


Ten Realities and My Trusty Fork

by komasouda



Series: Everything Starts and Ends with Atë [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Afterlife, Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, M/M, Not Canon Compliant - The Blood of Olympus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-10
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-04-30 22:39:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 31,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5182292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/komasouda/pseuds/komasouda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leo Valdez's original plan to bring himself back to life didn't work, but there's apparently a Plan C. He's supposed to travel through ten realities, each of which have been created by his friends' dreams, hopes, fears, and hatreds. If he ever wants to get back to Camp Half-Blood with his newly acquired girlfriend in tow, he must find out which reality belongs to which one of his peers before time runs out- either for him or for them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Of Goddesses and Girlfriends and Forks

**Author's Note:**

> Every may or may not seem a bit confusing right now, but it'll make sense sooner or later!  
> Check out my tumblr [here](http://luciferslittlekitten.tumblr.com/)

Couldn’t anything go Leo’s way?

He felt like he was being torn apart, his mind shattering into a million little pieces as he was stretched and pulled every which way. Just as he was sure this was his eternal punishment, it all stopped. Stopped, he might add, not so pleasantly. The vacant space in which he’d been floating just changed into a room, and he fell on the floor ungracefully.

It was a room. A very nice room, with white walls and carpet and couches and- well, white everything. Nothing in the room was a shade darker. It was the purest of colors, but it off-put him. Was this death? Had he misused his only way of living?

He let out a string of curses, turning to inspect the room further. He needed a weapon, some food, something. If he wasn’t dead, and he hoped he wasn’t, he would still need to survive. He walked towards one of the couches, looking at it suspiciously. He’d never been so skeptical of a couch before, but he pushed down on the seat cushion and ran his hand through the crack between them.

He sat down on the couch after a full minute of thorough investigation, and sighed, because these couches did not play around. This was probably the most comfortable thing he’d sat on in a while. He remained like that for a while until a voice that flowed and sent chills down his spine like freezing water spoke up.

“I see you’ve made yourself at home.”

He jumped up at that, reaching into his belt which he was thanking the gods he had on him, and pulling out something to defend himself with. It was a fork, which went to show how much his mind wasn’t working, and he held it up threateningly.

The woman in question stood right behind the couch. She was deathly pale, with dark irises that made her look like she lacked pupils. She wore a long dress that trailed behind her. It was, besides for him, the only splash of color in the white room. It was trimmed with black lace, and made up of reds and whites and grays.

It vaguely reminded him of the Queen of Hearts. But like, he thought to himself, a sexy queen of hearts. He was immediately reminded of Calypso when he thought that. Was she alright?

“I see you have a…” the lady trailed off, raising an eyebrow at the fork Leo was grasping, “weapon.”

“Yeah!” Leo said, swinging the fork in the air, “And I’m not afraid to use this utensil!”

“Uh-huh.” She looked thoroughly unimpressed, “You are just like I have heard. Pleased to meet you, Leo Valdez. I’m Atë.”

“You’re eighty?” He asked, squinting at her, “You don’t look your age.”

“No,” she said, clearly trying to keep her cool, “Atë. It is my name.”

“Oh…” he nodded understandingly, “Hey, wait, how do you know mine?”

“I know a lot about you.” She turned and walked away from Leo, and he stared after her for a bit before following along behind her.

“That’s kind of creepy.” He commented as her walked a good five feet behind Atë, looking wearily around at his surroundings, “Are you here to take me back?”

She stopped then, whirling back around to face Leo. “Take you where? I do not understand.”

“You know,” he prompted, but then continued at her unknowing look, “back to life. Camp Half-Blood. To stay with my friends…?” he trailed off with a questioning tone.

“What has died cannot be revived. That’s a rule of nature.”

“Yeah, but I had the thingy! The vial! The potion! You know.”

“I suppose I do,” she said, stepping towards the side of the room, looking over an array of colorless statues. “But I do not know if aiding you would be in my favor.”

She turned up her palms, “Eons I have been alone, dear boy, but now you come. You free me of my loneliness.”

“That’s great and all,” he tried to sound like he was not unhappy with this developing, “But I’ve kind of already got a goddess that was cursed to never leave one place waiting for me. So…”

“You think me a goddess?”

“Are you not one?”

“Oh, I am. I just haven’t been recognized as one in so long…” she sighed dreamily, blinking a few times.

“Right… So, about me getting home-“

“Home is where your heart is, no?” She inquired, placing a hand over her chest, “and your heart is here.”

“Well, I mean, technically,” he waved his hands around in an attempt to convey emotion, “but that’s not really what the saying meant…”

“Do you not wish to stay?”

He swallowed thickly. This could be the real end of his life. How would Atë get his blood stains out of her snow white carpet? “I’d love to-“ he started hesitantly, “but I need to be home. With my friends. With my… girlfriend.” Had Calypso ever openly said they were dating? He guessed not, but it was a safe assumption.

Atë’s face fell, and Leo felt bad. Sick to his stomach, really, somewhat out of pity and somewhat because he thought he was going to up and die right then.

“Very well.” She said, and Leo was surprised at how easily she caved, “but the road to life, Leo Valdez, is as hard as the one to death.”

He’d heard enough of these vague explanations to things. “What do I have to do?”

“You need to know who you are, before you can live,” she explained, tucking a stray piece of dark hair behind her ear.

“Why?”

“That is just how things work, I am afraid.”

“Of course it is,” he muttered, “What do I have to do to find out who I am? I mean, I think I already know. I’ve known myself my whole life.”

The goddess was not impressed by his humor. “Fate dictates everything. In order to change your own, you first need to know about your other fates.”

“Other fates?” he furrowed his brows in confusion.

“There’s a string of universes. Ten, to be precise. They succumb to you and your friends ideals and inner worries, stresses, hopes, dreams- I’m sure you get it.”

“So me and my friends each have a world? That’s awesome!”

“No, I’m afraid it’s not. See, one demigod’s inner struggle is always about what could have been, how things could have happened. In these worlds are lopped nightmares and fear and hatred as well as your love and dreams. It’s not a fantasy land in every one. It’s just…” She paused a moment, a sadness in her voice, “reality.”

“So, nine universes not including mine? I didn’t know I had nine friends.” He tapped his chin, “How do I get in and out of them?”

“I’ll help you for as much I can. I’ve been the home of heroes ever since my father entrapped me here. My Litae travel and bring me the dying saviors, and I’ll help them. Either if it’s to live once more, or pass on.”

So she was like Calypso. Except she was choosing who washed up in her home. That seemed a bit unfair, but he couldn’t argue. He supposed he was just waiting for someone to come and save her from her own hell.

“So I just look at them all? That’s it?”

“It is not that simple. You are to study each world, and find out whose personal universe it is based on its fundamental principles and how the other embodiments of you and your friends act.” Atë smoothed down the front of her dress, “It’s harder than it sounds. Some heroes, by the time they are out of those realities, have already passed a hundred years in their own time.”

He stood mutely. A hundred years? What if everyone he knew died before he could return?

“Are you up for it, Leo Valdez?”

He stared at this goddess, into her all-knowing eyes, for quite a while. He could pass on to the afterlife, put himself at rest and not worry anymore. But he thought of his friends, he seemed to be doing that a lot even in death, and then of Calypso. Who else would come back for her? It could be thousands of years, of her just waiting, and she would never know what became of him…

“Yes,” he finally said, admittedly slightly nervous, “I’m so up for this.” 


	2. Of Croatia and Ogygia and Trading

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoy!  
> By the way, if I change mythology in any of these chapters, it's all for sake of plot.  
> Check out my tumblr [here](http://luciferslittlekitten.tumblr.com/)

And they were back! Swirling through nothingness- ah, yes, the perfect pastime. He’d started to drift off in his own mind, losing all sense of time and perception, and he felt as if he were to fall asleep just when he fell to the floor once more. Lovely.

It was a room. A very nice room, with white walls and carpet and couches and- this was the same room wasn’t it? It looked identical. He turned around but everything was exactly as it was before. Then he noticed someone

He let out a string of curses, turning to inspect the room further. It wasn’t a stranger- it was him. It was himself repeating the same actions he’d just done moments earlier. H pushed down on the seat cushion and ran his hand through the crack between them just like Leo had.

 “I see you’ve made yourself at home.”

He jumped up at that, reaching into his belt and pulling out the fork.

He felt in his pocket for his own fork, which was there. Leo had never been so confused. He was watching his past in third person. He tried to yell out, but no sounds came out. He moved forward and tried to knock a white vase from a table, but his hand passed right through it. He couldn’t do anything. It was like he was a ghost.

Had this goddess tricked him?  

 “I see you have a…” the lady trailed off, raising an eyebrow at the fork Other Leo was grasping, “weapon.”

“Yeah!” Other Leo said, swinging the fork in the air, “And I’m not afraid to use this utensil!”

“Uh-huh.” She looked thoroughly unimpressed, “You are just like I have heard. Pleased to meet you, Leo Valdez. I’m Atë.”

“You’re eighty?” He asked, squinting at her, “You don’t look your age.”

“No,” she said, clearly trying to keep her cool, “Atë. It is my name.”

The conversation continued as he remembered. Was this a joke? A test? Was Atë laughing at him silently from where he couldn’t hear or see?

She turned up her palms, “Eons I have been alone, dear boy, but now you come. You free me of my loneliness.”

“That’s great and all,” He was tuning out the conversation he’d already shared with Atë when something changed.

 “Home is where your heart is, no?” She inquired, placing a hand over her chest, “and your heart is here.”

“Well, I mean, technically,” he waved his hands around in an attempt to convey emotion, “but that’s not really what the saying meant…”

“Do you not wish to stay?”

“With you?”

“Who else?”

“Well,” Other Leo said, giving a half-smile to the goddess, “How can I refuse?”

What?

The conversation from then on out was different- completely different. He couldn’t believe this. Other Leo was staying here? With this stranger?

Then it hit him. Other universes. Alternate timelines. This had to be…

“Atë,” he said to no one in particular, “This has to be Atë’s universe.”

Then, in the blink of an eye, the world around him changed. It was like the picture he was seeing melted away, but he didn’t go flying through nothingness again. He just sat there while the universe was painted around him like a giant picture.

Had that meant he was right? Maybe Atë was lying about this being unbelievably hard.

Leo immediately noticed where he was. How couldn’t he? It was his ship, the Argo II. He spun in a circle and narrowed his eyes at the empty deck. Where was everyone?

“Leo!” A familiar voice shouted from behind him. It was Jason, waving at him. Leo turned around and jogged towards Jason somewhat skeptically.

“Hey, the ship’s course has been going all wonky. Can you check it out?”

It was so normal Leo was greatly put off.

“Yeah…” he said, “I’ll do that.”

“You sound kinda out of it, dude.” Jason raised an eyebrow, “Honestly, you have ever since Croatia. Percy won’t talk to me about it.”

Now Leo was interested. “Croatia?” He asked, before realizing that this Leo would’ve known, “Oh, yeah, I mean, yeah.” He mentally slapped himself. Smooth, Valdez.

“You wanna talk about it?” Jason started, “I mean-,”

“Jason! Who’re you talking to?”

And, yes, that voice was even more familiar. Jason turned around to see him. Well, presumably this world’s him. Other Leo ran up to a confused Jason and turned his eyes on his clone.

“Jason…” He warned, “What’d you do?”

Jason was one step ahead of both of them. Faster than lightning, which was in itself quite ironic, he had out his gladius.

“You..?” Jason trailed off before he could ask the question he wanted to, “What would you guys say if I asked which one of you was the real Leo?”

Other Leo sighed, “I’d say you’re stupid. Haven’t you seen a movie, Grace? It’s like you aren’t even my friend.”

Leo held up his hands, “Hey, look, I’m the faker here, but I don’t want any violence. There was this goddess and she sent me here-,”

“Can you expect us to believe that?” Other Leo asked.

“I don’t know! I can tell you anything you wanna heard about me. I’ll convince you that I’m… you. From a different universe.”

“Fine. Favorite color?”

“Red.”

“Dad?”

“Hephaestus.”

“Mom?”

“Esperanza. Dude. Harder questions.” He scoffed, pulling out his fork and twirling it between his fingers. Jason gave him an odd look.

They continued like that for a long, long while. It got quite boring, and Jason just stood there while they fired questions and answers at each other.

“Girlfriend?”

Leo straightened up and gave a smug smile, “Yep. Calypso.”

Jason’s face went pale. Other Leo looked almost offended.

“You’re lying. You stayed with her?”

“Am not! What’s wrong with her?”

Other Leo looked at him like _really?_ Jason shrugged his shoulders, “He answered everything else right, right? Maybe she’s different for him. I mean, maybe other you has a girlfriend.”

Other Leo scowled. “Shut up. I don’t have that _witch,”_ he said it in a way that made him think Other Leo wanted to say something that rhymed, “but I’ll find another girl.”

“Or maybe you’ll live your life a sad, lonely little man.” Leo offered.

“Stop insulting yourself.” Other Leo said.

“Make me.”

“Both of you knock it off.” Jason spoke up in his mom voice, “Look, Leo, maybe you should take, uh, Leo to Annabeth and see what’s what.”

“You’re leaving me with him?”

Jason shrugged, “I’m on duty.”

Other Leo grabbed Leo’s hand and tugged him off, not without a mumbled batch of curses directed at Jason.

“Hey, me, uh,” Leo started, “What’s with Jason? Why are we so sour? And why’s he asking us about Croatia?”

“You’re me. You should know.” He let go of his hand and walked at a steady pace beside Leo. He wondered if anyone walking by would have to do a double take.

“Yeah, but I don’t. Other stuff happens in different universes. You went to Croatia with Percy, but for me, Jason went with Nico.”

“Cupid’s an asshole.” Other Leo said, “That’s all that you need to know.”

He groaned. This guy wasn’t getting it, “Look, I’m you, and we know we’re not a snitch. Just tell me.”

“No.” And he continued to pull Leo down the familiar paths of the Argo.

 “That’s bullcrap!” He protested, but Other Leo wasn’t responding. He crossed his arms over his chest and made every footstep he took fall with a loud stomp to get the point across he was incredibly pissed.

The Other Leo had seemingly no reaction to this.

He followed his clone down the corridor, and then to their appointed meeting room. Everyone sat quite ordinarily, chatting and eating, but something else put him off.

It was Nico. His hair wasn’t short, but it was trimmed, and wasn’t hanging in his face. He didn’t have such bad bags under his eyes that it looked like he’d been punched in both of them, and he wasn’t even wearing a creepy smile.

It was a genuine smile, and his eyes crinkled at the corners, and he laughed. It was a weird thing to hear, considering he’d just laughed at something Percy had said. He didn’t look like Nico at all.

The second thing he noticed was Piper. Her chocolate down hair was tumbling loose down her back, wasn’t braided and choppy, and her V-neck fit her just right and clung to her curves. He felt gross for thinking this stuff about his best friend’s girlfriend immediately, but she looked even more beautiful than she usually did.

She looked like she was putting down effort into her wardrobe. Her high-tops were purple and she wore shorts that were shorter than Leo had ever seen Piper wear. They stopped inches above her knee.

Other Leo cleared his throat, and everyone turned to stare at him

“Uh, Leo?” Piper asked, raising an eyebrow that looked too perfect to be completely natural, “Are you aware there’s a-,”

“Another me? Yes.” Other Leo put his hands in his pockets, “He said he was sent by some goddess.”

“Hey, I was!” He said, clenching onto the fork in his fist, “I need to do it to, like, be revived.”

“Revived…?” Frank asked. He sat next to Hazel who was staring at him curiously.

“Yeah. Brought back to life or whatever. Then I need to make a pit stop at Ogygia and I’m golden.”

“Why would you need to go to Ogygia?” Percy asked. He supposed in this world, where he’d never met Calypso, Percy still had. Other Percy looked different too. He sounded different too, with a much heavier New Yorker accent. His eyes didn’t have that tired dull in them, nor his hair the streak of gray, and he didn’t have that mole Leo had noticed (in an incident that involved him getting a lot closer to a dude than he’d have liked to) right above his right ear.

He wasn’t even into guys, and he could say for-sure this Percy was definitely more attractive.

“You’re dead?” Annabeth asked. She didn’t look any different. Strange as that was. Even Frank and Hazel had an aura about them that made look better, but he couldn’t place his finger on what.

“Prophecy,” he explained, “You know: _To storm or fire the world must fall._ Apparently it was fire.”

Other Leo gave him a questioning stare, but Hazel spoke up for the first time. “Storm or fire? I thought it was _to hell or earth the world must fall._ ”

Leo looked at her for a long time. “Uh, no. Not for me.”

“Yeah, but what about Ogygia?” Percy asked again.

“Calypso.” Leo said, “You know, the myth about Calypso the sea nymph being trapped on a deserted island and all that jazz…”

Nico’s face immediately darkened to a shade of red. “The myth here is different. It’s a guy. He was a son of Apollo who refused Zeus…” he trailed off and gestured wildly, “You know. So, Zeus got Hera to trap him on an island for all eternity.”

Annabeth nodded. “Yes. Calypso is a sorceress, known mostly for her work on Circe’s Island nowadays.”

Piper cringed at that. There was obviously a memory behind that.

“Oh.” He twiddled his thumbs, “So have we met Calypso?”

“You, me, and Jason.” Piper said with a sigh. “On our first quest. We crash landed, and she turned Jason into a gerbil or something, and then offered to let you stay behind as her immortal sorcerer consort. You obviously denied.”

“Oh, god,” he muttered to himself. So, here, Calypso was their Khione?

“Yeah, ‘oh, god’ is right.” Hazel shook her head, “Sorcery intrigues me, but Calypso is a straight psycho.”

Hazel sounded way more southern, and way more ‘you best not be messin’ with me’ than she normally did. This reality was changing small things, but Annabeth was exactly the same. From her voice, to her face, to her clothing- Leo couldn’t even tell what was different with her! And he had spent plenty of time with her in the engine room.

“All her myths are terrible.” Frank agreed, “Some of them picture her chopping off the heads of those who betray her, having a voice and face so violently beautiful it could hypnotize you, stomping men to death, even assaulting them sexually…” he shuddered, “Very gory, graphic stuff.”

Frank, although mostly normal-looking, seemed to have more of a confidence about him. He also had more of a defined jaw- definitely a manlier face structure.

“Percy and I are the only ones to meet him.” Nico admitted, “The one on the island. He’s called Willhelm, but he’s always kept his mother’s last name of Solace. He’s…. amazing.”

Willhelm Solace.

Will Solace…

That name was familiar, instantly clicking in Leo’s mind. So, in this universe, Will was an age-old demigod imprisoned on an island by not giving something- knowing the god, probably something sexual- to his grandfather, and not the head counselor of the Apollo cabin.

That was a horrible thing to be imprisoned for! Who wants to sleep with their grandparent? Zeus was a serious creep.

So, if he was correctly labeling the dreamy look in Nico’s eyes, he was head-over-heels for Will.

And if Frank and Hazel and Percy and Annabeth were obviously in their respective relationships, then who did Cupid use against Other Leo in Croatia?

Was it Piper?

He wouldn’t lie- Jason’s girlfriend was a real catch. He could hardly believe his friend had gotten with the girl when he found out, even if the Wilderness School memories were all fake.

“Where’s Jason?” Percy asked, looking at both Leo’s with somewhat of a sense of pity.

“Deck.” Other Leo responded simply.

“And,” Percy hesitated a moment, “What about this one and Croatia?”

Other Leo’s expression darkened. He had never seen himself look this upset ever. “He says that Nico and Jason went in his world, or whatever.”

“What even happened there? You two aren’t telling anyone and you’ve been avoiding Jason for days!” Piper turned to look her Leo, and it suddenly made sense.

He gave Piper a look that dripped of venom, something foreign to see on his face. “That’s none of your business.”

This version of himself didn’t have a thing for Piper- he had a thing for Jason! That’s why he recoiled so harshly at the girlfriend comment! But everything else wasn’t him, he’d never been into Jason.

He doubted Jason would want him to be upset for the rest of his life, so putting two and two together…

Nico was happy, Piper was perfect, Frank was confident, Hazel was as sisterly as ever…

And Annabeth was the same.

That was it! Annabeth was the same, who’d never want her to change even in their deepest fantasies?

“Percy!” Leo blurted out, almost dropping his fork in his abruptness, “This is Percy’s world!” And the last thing he saw were the confused faces of the people in the room before the world dripped away and he was black in swirling darkness.


	3. Of Nazis and Fascists and Death

This next world was easier, on his part, to get to. It appeared this time in blots, like someone spray painting upon a black canvas. It was an artsy kind of beautiful, which made Leo feel like a twenty year old hipster with an arts degree in a Starbucks. Ah, yes, the beauty of color in darkness. Bleh, how cliché!

It wasn’t familiar at all this time. It looked like an urban city street with groups of people bustling about.

That is, if it were seventy years ago.

The street looked as if he were on a movie set. The people on the streets all dressed retro- women wore dresses that passed their knees, casual heels or flats, and some even more pants that looked too big for their figures. The men were clad in suits, button-ups, suspenders, dress shoes, and a wide variety of other things that were definitely not modern.

Leo furrowed his brow and turned around. He saw a man reading a book on a bench and tried to call out. It was like his first world with Atë. It was like he wasn’t seen.

Then something particularly peculiar happened. The world seemed screech and move like someone fast forwarding a movie. It hurt his head, staring at everything happening around him. He noticed his surroundings completely change, and then it paused.

Leo blinked several times before staring around again. He noticed he was no longer in a busy city, but on a camp. No, not his camp, it looked like a base camp. There were tents set up, some that pictured red crosses on them, and uniformed men were talking, walking, and working.

He stepped towards the closest medical tent and lifted the draping curtain to cover it from the world. He inched inside and looked around.

It was fairly empty. Only eight beds in it were occupied, but one person stood out from the lighter skinned blonde or brown haired people in the other beds.  

His skin was an olive color and his hair was dark. He looked bony though, almost as if he hadn’t eaten in ages.

When he turned for an instant to grab something on the small table beside him, Leo got a glimpse of his face. It was Nico! It had to be. He looked definitely older, and his arm was lined with scars and patched up with bandages, but it was Nico.

Another man stepped forth. He looked of blonde hair and blue eyes and Leo found himself stepping closer to the pair, fork held tightly in his hand. Could they still not see him? He tried to listen in on their conversation.

“-fine. Stop stressing.” That was Nico. His voice wasn’t much deeper, but it wasn’t cracking either.

“I’m assigned to take care of you. My sergeant would get mad if I didn’t.” That voice came from the blonde man. He spared a glance at him and realized that Will Solace seemed to be involved in this world too. Was he Nico’s soulmate or something?

“You have other patients,” Nico spoke bitterly, “patients that aren’t faggot fascists.” He ground out the last words in a quiet hiss. 

Will sighed as if this were a common comment to be made. “Stop calling yourself that. You insult the both of us. And your country doesn’t define you.” He took Nico’s hand, looking at him with a patient expression, “You know I’m German, right? Yes? And I’m fighting for the Americans.”

He brought his hand halfway up to Nico’s face before hesitating and resting it on his shoulder.

“I know.” Nico answered in a small voice, “I know, but I just wish my father had taken me with him overseas, Will. I wish I’d never been involved in this mess.”

Will nodded. “They can’t hurt you anymore. And they were only taking the German ones, Nico. Only the German ones.”

Nico shook his head, “No, no, my mother’s consort was going to give me to them. Give me up.”

“I won’t let anyone hurt you here.” There was quiet on Will’s end for a moment, “After this war, you’re coming back to Brooklyn with me.”

“What about Bianca?”

There was a long, drawn silence before Nico spoke again. “Do you think she’s dead?”

“I don’t know what I think, but I do know I want to protect you if she can’t.”

Nico didn’t fire back like Leo thought he would. He nodded jerkily, and Will smiled and stared into Nico’s eyes for a moment.

No, he was staring at his lips. His gaze flickered away and he gave Nico’s hand a squeeze before he went back to assist some other light haired patient with a casted arm.

He couldn’t make a safe assumption yet. Percy had Nico to be in love with Will in his world, who was to say it wasn’t the same with someone else?

“Solace!”

Leo jumped at that, his fork falling to the group without a noise whatsoever. He reached down to pick it up, watching how Nico seemed to cringe and cower, but Will straightened up.

“Yes, Sergeant Grace?”

The man who had called out was undeniably Jason. He was older as well, with a defined jaw and stubble along it. He still looked built as ever, but right now he was fidgety and jumpy.

“We need you right now. There’s an emergency.” There was an urgent tone in his voice, coupled by a scared glint in his eyes, “Please.”

Will grabbed a bag and motioned for Jason to lead. They bolted down the dirt paths of the camp. Leo, with a tired groan, shoved his fork in his pocket and ran after them. He, obviously, couldn’t be seen in this world. He ran straight through several men as if he were a hologram.

The building Jason and Will had pushed into was a dome-type shape. It was much more structured. He pushed through the thin doors into a much nicer medical-type room. Lying on the metal table in the center with blood staining the cloth that another man was pressing onto his stomach was him. He was missing his right hand, and he could see bone sticking from his arm. He gagged, but Will only had a split second of panic in his eyes.

He went to work immediately.

“Keep him talking. We can’t lose him.” Will instructed. Jason took ahold of Other Leo’s left arm.

“Hey, Leo, you’re okay. It’s okay. You know what you promised me? You said we’d go on that double date with Piper and Calypso, and I’m going to hold you to that.” Leo inhaled sharply, struggling to breath, and Jason’s voice cracked. “It’s okay. Please, you’re okay. I can’t let you…”

Jason’s eyes stung with unshed tears. The other man stepped forward, and Leo’s concentration on the operation had forgotten about him. It was Percy. He looked just about as stressed and scared. “Is he going to be okay?”

Will didn’t respond, only trying to halt the bleeding of Other Leo’s stomach. It wasn’t working, and everyone knew it, but Will kept going.

Other Leo was actually going to die. He was going to die in front of himself. Other Leo’s voice was nearly silent, but he eventually took in a breath and spoke. “Raincheck.”

And then he was still, and quiet, and didn’t look dead at all. His eyes were still open and he didn’t look pale like a corpse. He looked like he was asleep.

Jason choked on unspoken words and took a few suffering breaths before dissolving into tears. He covered his face with his hand, still holding onto Other Leo’s arm.

“I promised her,” he said through tears, to no one in particular even thought Will and Percy stared at him with wide, horror-stricken eyes. “I promised Calypso I’d keep him safe.”

“We weren’t planning on being ambushed,” Percy started, “We killed them all, but Leo didn’t… And Travis and I…” His voice broke off. He looked like he wanted to cry for Leo, but he didn’t, because Jason was still in near hysterics.

“I’m sorry.” Will said, staring down at the body, “I’m so sorry.”

“We couldn’t have saved him, Will.” Percy assured him, “It was wishful thinking. He’d lost too much blood… There had probably been a punctured lung and much too much damage.”

Leo stepped back from the scene. He turned and ran from the building. He, no matter how much he wanted to think he could, couldn’t handle that. He didn’t want to see anyone weep over him, and he didn’t want to see himself die.

And he would, if he never finished this.

He took a deep breath and tried to think.

It wouldn’t be Percy’s. He hadn’t seen Frank or Hazel or Annabeth or Piper. Was it Jason’s? Or his? He didn’t think that his or Jason’s deep desire would be to be present in a war. Could that be a fear? But, no, Jason didn't fear battle. He was a Roman.

What about Nico?

The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Nico had been alive in the forties, right? And that’s when World War II was, and the Holocaust.

And Will? Well, maybe Nico liked the guy! How long had he been dead? He wasn’t aware the two had spoken. And he knew that the Nazis killed homosexuals too, and the early twentieth century wasn’t very accepting.

The part where he died stung the most. Did Nico hate him that much? He had to move on, forget about that. Maybe he could try and mend that when he was revived.

“Nico's, right?”

For a long time, nothing happened. Then the world clicked off immediately.


	4. Of Boyfriends and Spirits and A Surprisingly Scary Asian

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't already, check out my story [Deeper Depths of the Universe](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5317430)  
> If you want some closure on my AUs, that's the story to ready. You'll get an inside look to each world, which may or may not become it's very own fanfiction one day.   
> Check out my tumblr [here!](http://luciferslittlekitten.tumblr.com/)

This time around, it felt like air was being ripped from his lungs. Breathing raggedly, Leo grappled at empty air. He inhaled deep breaths but it wasn’t of any use because the air was seemingly vacant of oxygen. It was like he was drowning without the water.

 

The world came splashing back in a parade of color, and he coughed, one hand over his chest. His breaths were out of turn and deep, but when he looked around, he was relieved to find himself back on a familiar site- the Argo II.

 

He pushed himself up from the deck. It was like the first world, not a thing out of place. He was debating whether or not he should call out when someone beat him to it.

 

“Leo!” There were running footsteps and Leo couldn’t turn around before there was a present weight on his back and legs wrapped around his waist.

 

The person wrapped their arms around his neck and hummed softly. “You didn’t drop me.”

 

It was a masculine voice, even though it was higher, and Leo wasn’t sure how to respond.

 

“Cat gotcha tongue?” The boy teased, twirling some of Leo’s hair around his finger.

 

“Yeah, sorry,” he tried, “you need to get down though.”

 

The person huffed, but let their feet touch ground and stood up. Leo turned around to find out who the boy actually was, and was met with somewhat of a strange sight.

 

The boy wore a colorful flannel shirt with sleeves that dangled just past his hands, black skinny jeans, converse, and had blue braces. He smiled at Leo and clasped his hands behind his back.

 

Leo had no idea what was with the ever-changing Nico trend, but this boy was obviously him.

 

“You look confused, silly,” and, much to his surprise, Nico giggled.

 

“Yeah, sorry, uh… I’m not your Leo. I’m another Leo.”

 

Nico blew hair out of his face and laughed airily again. He stepped forward and threw his arms around Leo, standing up on his tip-toes to kiss his full on the lips. Leo’s arms waved about helplessly and his eyes widened.

 

Nico pulled back and touched their noses together briefly. “You seem like the same Leo to me.” he said breathily, kissing Leo once more on the cheek.

 

He was silently thanking every single god that came to mind he’d already had his first kiss with Calypso, and not an other-worldly Nico.

 

“Nico?”

 

Nico’s face contorted into an expression of confusion as he whipped around to face Leo.

 

“I…” he glanced behind himself, as if to verify there were actually two Leos, and then back at the one in front of him, “You…”

 

“Who the hell is that?” Other Leo asked, clenching his fists at his sides. He looked almost jealous. Which, if the kiss was any indication, he had every right to be.

 

“I’m sorry, dude, I didn’t mean to kiss you boyfriend.” Leo blurted out before he could stop himself. Other Leo went red in the face.

 

“He’s not my boyfriend!” he protested.

 

“Oh, you can’t keep pulling that card, Valdez!” Nico spoke up.

 

“We aren’t dating, Nico, no matter what you think,” he shot a glare at Leo, as if he did something wrong.

 

“We’re just friends then?” Nico demanded, stamping his foot on the ground, “Friends that hold hands and make out?”

 

“We don’t-,”

 

“Friends that go on dates and sleep in the same bed?”

 

“Those aren’t dates, Nico! I tell you that every time! And you only sleep with me when I have those nightmares…” he trailed off.

 

“And I’m sure it’s very platonic when you pinch my ass in public?”

 

“Oh, now you’re making stuff up!”

 

“Can both of you please shut up?” Leo spoke up. Other Leo and Nico both looked back up to him.

 

“Who are you even?”

 

“I’m you.” Leo sighed, “Look, I’m doing some universe-hopping thing. I’m no threat.” He paused a moment then held up his fork, “unless you consider this a weapon.”

 

A grin split Nico’s face. “Oh, gosh, that’s so cool!”

 

“Yeah, as cool as it may be, don’t go kissing my Nico anymore. You should have your own.” Other Leo told him sharply.

 

“No, I’m not with my Nico like that…” he started to say, but Nico looked at him in wide-eyed childlike intrigue.

 

“What’s other me like?” he demanded, “I need ‘a know!”

 

Leo looked at Nico for a long time. “He’s… He’s really helpful and kind, but he’s not into me like that,” he lied, “almost like you, really.”

 

“What about Bianca?” Nico pressed. Other Leo groaned quietly as if she were a sore subject.

 

“She’s... “ Leo hesitated. He didn’t want to completely crush this kid. “She’s at camp right now. She’s dating some Hermes boy, last I heard.”

 

“Wow, so she’s not a hunter in your world?” Nico’s eyes sparkled. Other Leo cut in before he could reply.

 

“She shouldn’t be a hunter in this world!”

 

“Do you two have history?” Leo asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

“No! Gods no!” Other Leo shook his head, as if scandalized by the idea, “I just can’t believe she’d give up everything for Artemis, even her brother…”

 

Nico scoffed, “Because you’re certainly one to show me off and appreciate me.”

 

“More than her,” Other Leo’s voice was bitter. “She couldn’t give a-,”

 

“Both of you, stop getting off topic. You want me gone, right?” Leo asked in exasperation.

 

Nico said yes while Other Leo said no, and then both shot each other a look.

 

“Well, regardless, I need’a be back sooner than later. So, I need to see the rest of you guys.”

 

“The rest of us?”

 

“Yeah,” Leo shrugged, “You know. Annabeth and Percy and Jason and Piper and Hazel and Frank. Those guys.”

 

Nico stared at him a long time. “Who’s Hazel?”

 

“What?” Leo was surprised, to say the least, “She’s your sister.”

 

“Bianca’s my sister,” Nico cocked his head a little, “I have another sister?”

 

“Half-sister,” Leo settled, but Nico’s face didn’t show any recognition.

 

Other Leo seemed to ponder on this a moment. “Okay, fine, we’ll take you to see the others. Don’t be annoying though.”

 

“You’re the one who got yourself into this mood, because you think you’re some heterosexual manly man.” Nico said to Other Leo as he waved Leo along, “Come on.”

 

The two of them bickered in hushed voices all the way to the meeting room, and Leo trailed behind them awkwardly. It was bad enough third-wheeling Jason and Piper, but third-wheeling himself? Yeah, new level of crazy in his life for sure.

 

Everyone was present in the meeting room, save for Frank and Hazel, who Leo had taken was nonexistent in this world.

 

“Alright,” Other Leo said, seemingly falling back into his casual self because he spoke hurriedly and warmly and wore a lazy grin, “Hey, guys, we have a slight problemo. Uh, obviously…” He gestured to Leo, who everyone in the room had already seen and were staring at.

 

“That’s you.” Piper deadpanned, looking over to Leo. “What?”

 

Jason blinked a few times. Leo noticed he didn’t look… Well, he didn’t scream “Mean Lean Roman Machine” as much as he normally did. He looked kind of ordinary. Attractive, yeah, but ordinary. Like some normal kid out of highschool and not a demigod.

 

“Hey,” Leo started, but he was promptly cut off. Go figure.

 

“What did you guys do?” Annabeth demanded, staring Leo down in a way that made him feel like some cell she was inspecting through a microscope.

 

“Nothing,” Nico said quickly, “he just appeared. I swear it!”

 

Percy hadn’t said anything, simply looking the two of them over as if to clarify they were there.

 

“Where’s Frank?” Leo blurted. He hadn’t ever imagined Frank without Hazel, or vice versa, and was wondering if Panda Man was fairing well without a girlfriend.

 

Other Leo seemed to flinch at that. There was a collective silence in the room. “He’s in his bunk.”

 

Leo had never in his entire life see so many people’s expressions darken at the mention of Frank. He was tall, but not intimidating, and a good guy if anything. It felt odd to think that Frank could ever be anything except a sweet boyfriend and great ally.

 

Of course, the boyfriend part wouldn’t apply to him- dating Frank, no thank you- but his point stood. He wouldn’t call them friends, because they weren’t really, but an ally and teammate for sure. “I want to see him.”

 

The silence spanned out a while longer.

 

“See him?” Other Leo squeaked, almost if scared at the idea. Nico intertwined their fingers and stayed quiet.

 

“Okay.” Percy said finally.

 

“He asked to be alone, Percy,” Piper argued, “You know he values his privacy.”

 

“It’s not on us to intrude, man.” Jason rested his hand atop Piper’s, like they were a married couple addressing their particularly rebellious son.

 

Percy, rebellious son in question, continued, “Look, if there’s a Leo double, and he needs to see Zhang, I say we let him! I’d rather not prepare for trouble.”

 

Leo heard Nico mutter “and make it double” under his breath, but didn’t tear his attention from the scene before him.

 

Annabeth sighed, “He’s right, you two.”

 

Leo was, after a lot of complaints from Jason and Piper’s ends and retorts from Annabeth and Percy’s, led to a room at the end of the hallway that would have been his in other universes.

 

Other Leo held his hands behind his back as they stood outside the door. Eventually, he turned to Leo. “Look, I don’t know how he is in your word, but here he’s kind of a weird guy. Really quiet. Scary even. And he hates me for some reason,” he shook his head and sighed, “I think it’s got something to do with my fire, but I haven’t the faintest idea why. Anyways, the guy’s almost a mute, so good luck getting him to talk.”

 

“I’ll be fine,” Leo said, but he nervously twisting and ran his fingers along of the handle of the fork in his pocket.

 

“Hope so,” Other Leo muttered, then speed walked away from Frank’s door. Leo didn’t watch him go.

 

He knocked.

 

Again.

 

Again.

 

Again.

 

Finally the door swung open, and there was Frank. Only, it wasn’t Frank. He was tall and lean, and he wore his SPQR shirt under a torn jacket. His jean were darkly colored, his hair military-cut, his eyes dark. There were bags under them too, not just from lack of sleep, but from stress and sorrow. His lips were held in a permanent frown.

 

He looked right past Leo. Leo started to greet him, but felt the familiar blockage in his throat. He couldn’t speak. So, coming to a quick realization of his situation, stepped right through Frank and into his bedroom.

 

He was invisible once more. He kind of hated it in general, he always felt cold and could only hold onto his fork. What was that about?

 

Except he wasn’t the only invisible force in the room. He felt a presence, inexplicably, an aura so similar to his own he had mistaken it for himself. It was radiating heat, and Leo looked to seek it out immediately. The door was slammed shut as Frank made his way back to his bed.

 

Then, the force appeared. It was a blinding white light shining from the center of the room. Leo didn’t need to shield his eyes though, the light couldn’t harm him in this state.

 

Waves of curly hair fell down the figure’s back. Obviously feminine, with a flowy, floral dress coming just below her knees, and dark skin.

 

Apparently there was a Hazel.

 

Frank stared at her ghostly figure as if it were an actual living girl. “Hazel,” he breathed, closing his eyes and exhaling in relief. “Gods, I thought…”

 

This ghostly Hazel pretty much floated over to Frank, hand cupping his face and fingers sweeping over his cheek, leaving a warm auburn glow wherever she touched.

 

“I’m fine,” and she smiled, “You need’a stop worryin’, a girl can handle herself.” Hazel’s voice was heavily accented with Cajun.

 

Frank smiled like it was a joke they’d shared before. The smile didn’t look out of place on what he just saw as this Frank’s cold, emotionless face. It was genuine and lit up his face and showed how happy he was.

 

Leo was still in the dark here. Could Hazel see him?

 

Frank grabbed Hazel’s wrist, bringing her hand away from his face. “I missed you.”

 

“I know you did, big guy,” Hazel twirled and fell onto the bed next to Frank, laying her head on his shoulder. Leo didn’t understand. He could so much as pick up a leaf without his hand passing through it. Whenever he was invisible like this, we was constantly floating just an inch above floor. If he tried to settle, he’d fall right through the ground.

 

Hazel looked and acted like she could’ve been alive, save for the transparency of her body.

 

“Have you been…” there was a hesitation, “working your end?”

 

“Of course,” she said, straightening herself up, “And whatta ‘bout you?”

 

He nodded silently, and Hazel’s face seemed to fall.

 

“You haven’t told ‘em, have you?”

 

Frank jerked his head again, side to side this time.

 

“Frank! You can’t do somethin’ serious like this without tellin’ your friends!”

 

“They wouldn’t understand,” he started, and now was he really starting to sound angsty, “If I could give up this war for you, I would. I would go back with you to Elysium and we could be happy. But I owe it to the rest of them to stick with them until this is over. They’re my allies.”

 

Hazel sighed yet again, “Frank, what’ve I told you ‘bout makin’ them your friends?”

 

“That I should?”

 

“And have you?”

 

“No…”

 

“Then you need to do it, Frank. I’ve been holdin’ up my side of things.”

 

Frank groaned, “They don’t like me any, they’re all terrified of me.”

 

“Because you’re big an’ scary and you threatened to kill Leo!” Hazel rebuffed, slapping Frank’s upper arm, “Frank, I’m dead serious,” she paused a moment, “Pun not intended. Back to the point, I want to be with you too, but I’m never getting back if you don’t…”

 

Leo narrowed his eyes. Was this some weird necromancy thing? Was Hazel going to be brought back from the dead? By Frank? How was Frank even dating a ghost?

 

“Is this technically necrophilia?” Leo muttered to himself, and Hazel’s eyes snapped to where he stood. He stiffened up immediately.

 

“Who’s there?”

 

Frank straightened up. He reached into the sheath resting on his hip, but Hazel held out a hand to stop him. “We don’t bite.”

 

“Can you see me?” Leo asked, stupidly, stepping forward until he was right in front of the two. It was like he wasn’t there. They looked like past him.

 

“No,” Frank said slowly, “Only hear you. And feel you, I think. You’re freezing.”

 

Leo shrugged, “Sorry.”

 

“Your aura…” Hazel trailed off, furrowing her brow, “You haven’t passed on, have you? Only trapped spirits are cold like that.”

 

“I guess,” he didn’t really know what to do. He couldn’t run away from this without suspicion, and he didn’t know whose world this was yet. He tried to narrow it down in his mind while Hazel continued to speak about afterlifes and the like.

 

Couldn’t be Percy’s, or Nico’s, or his for that matter. It wouldn’t be Annabeth’s or Piper’s, that wouldn’t make any sense. More likely than not, it wasn’t Jason’s either, because he didn’t think his friend would try to water down his good looks or strength.

 

Frank or Hazel’s. That what it had to be. He needed to figure this out before- “Look, I know some ways to put you at rest.”

 

That. “No!” Leo shouted immediately, and Hazel jumped.

 

“You can’t stay here,” Frank said, “You need to pass on. Spirits stuck out of the Underworld go insane. Lose their minds.”

 

“Just…” Leo was trying to find some excuse to hang around, “I need to ask some questions.”

 

“Fine.”

 

“Are your parents alive?”

 

This seemed to surprise both Hazel and Frank. Hazel shook her head slowly. “No, my Mama and Papa both died back in my day…”

 

So that meant Hazel didn’t know her father was a god, or that her father actually wasn’t a god.

 

“My mom is, if that’s what you mean,” Frank said, “And my grandmother, but my father is a god, Mars.”

 

Did Hazel want to be a mortal? Did she want to be dead? This wasn’t narrowing anything down and Leo had no clue what to do.

 

He didn’t know what to ask to narrow this down, so there was a long, stretching silence before he blurted out, “Is Leo scared of you?”

 

Frank seemed as confused as ever, but nodded, “Yeah, I try to scare him off. His fire powers really unsettle me.”

 

Hazel wouldn’t want him to be scared of Frank.

 

“It’s your world then. Frank’s.”

  
Then, once again, the world began to fade out. The bright light of Hazel’s presence shined in the darkness for a few moments before finally going out as well.


	5. Of Colonels and Cookies and Strange Love Arrangements

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out my tumblr [here](http://luciferslittlekitten.tumblr.com/)

 

Leo was tired. He was tried of the universe-hopping, tired of seeing his friends as different people, he was tired of being dead.

 

He tried to close his eyes, despite the utter darkness, and was met with a pain so terrible he cringed visibly- if it weren’t pitch black and he weren’t alone, it would have been visible, at least- but when he reopened his eyes it was still terrible. He let out nothing short of a cry, and stumbled backwards.

 

He was standing.

 

He wasn’t in the void, Leo realized, he was just in a dark room. He felt like an idiot, and groaned. He’d banged his head on a pole or something. Of all places, he’d been stuffed into a coat closet. He felt the fabrics rubbing along his back. He groped along the walls for a lightswitch or something, but instead found a doorknob he twisted without question.

 

The door swung open and he stepped forward into a dimly lit, but still lit, room. He shuffled his feet along the floor, glancing around for a familiar presence. He opened his mouth to speak before thinking better of it.

 

Maybe he was invisible again. He grabbed his fork for self defense and stalked slowly and quietly to the other side of the room, where the lamp illuminating the walls was.

 

He’d made it to the desk it rested on, sighing a breath of relief and then feeling a sudden pressure on his throat.

 

“Who are you?”

 

Oh, this was not good. Here he was, in a serial-killery room, and he’d wanted to investigate. _Leo, your feelings are correct, you are an idiot_ , he scolded himself. The cool blade pressed harder against his skin.

 

“Who are you?” The voice repeated, harsher.

 

“Leo,” he breathed out, “Don’t kill me. Please.”

 

Then, another voice rang out, “Oh, are you going to kill him too? You have a fucking problem, woman!”

 

The blade fell a few inches from his throat, and he pushed back the loosened hand and turned himself so the offender’s arm was being twisted painfully. They let out nothing short of a cry, their blade falling to the floor.

 

Leo gave in then, but there was a boot kicking him to the ground. He sent the the knife sliding across the floor, so their groping hands couldn’t find it.

 

“Ding, ding, ding! It’s zero to one, the unknown figure is winning against the psycho bitch! Will she pull through?!”

 

The offender practically screamed, “Shut up, you ignorant ass!”

 

“Ooh, kitten has claws,” he drawled. Leo couldn’t see where this person was sitting from the darkness. He tried to reach into his belt to grab a flashlight of something, but nothing came out but his fork.

 

“I will kill you. Don’t test me.” He heard the squeak of shoe soles, “And, you- Leo- who sent you down here? Jason told me I was going to be alone.”

 

“Uh, Jason?”

 

“My…” he heard her falter, “Boy- superior. I’m much more qualified though. Shouldn’t you know that if you’re with us? Are you a new recruit or something?”

 

He blinked. He had put a name to the voice, but the words coming from her mouth were so incredibly wrong. “Annabeth?”

 

“So you are looking for me?” She asked.

 

“Your name is Annabeth? Ooh, that’s real pretty. Are you brunette by any chance? I’ve always thought brunettes were hot. Brown hair and blue eyes together are my absolute weakness. Blondes do have more fun though…”

 

“You’re my captive! Shut the hell up!” Annabeth was practically screeching like an owl at this point. Which, well- which made sense.

 

“You’re brunette, huh? Blondes don’t usually play as hard to get. And gingers? Gingers are all over me, they’re so desperate…”

 

“You’re such a cocky bastard. No doubt in my mind you’re Poseidon’s son now.”

 

The captive- no, Percy, that was Percy- snorted, “Oh, yeah. Because my dad is god of the ocean. Totally. Definitely.”

 

“He is, you asshole! And if you care for your life then you’ll just say that you’ll join us! We only have two weeks.”

 

“I still don't know what turning sixteen has to do with anything.” Percy said.

 

Annabeth let out a frustrated noise. “Leo, go upstairs and tell Jason I need him.”

 

“Jason? Oh no, I'm trembling. You gonna call the rest of the Argonauts too?”

 

Leo couldn't do anything but agree and start off to find another Jason. He scrambled for the door, until Annabeth grabbed his shoulders and set him in the right direction. He let himself out of a door that felt heavy, and let it slam behind him. He was kicking up dust as he ran down the halls, not sure where to find Jason. He saw an entryway to a light source, and bolted up the stairs to seek it out.

 

He was definitely outside, but he was standing on a deck. This was a ship and clear, rippling waters surrounded it on all sides. He saw a few things on deck, groups of possessed-looking tourists and monsters, walking past each other as if it were normal. _Oh, Helen, should we be concerned about this giant lizard-fire lady? Of course not, John, it's nothing to worry over! Let's hit the hot tub!_

The scene was so absurd he barely registered a tap on his shoulder until he was practically being shook from behind. He whirled around, fork clutched tightly.

 

“Yo, newbie, calm down,” the guy held up his hands, eyeing the fork amusedly. Was this Jason? Everything about him looked the same, except he didn't have his lip scar. Instead, on his right cheek, three scared lines covered the expanse of skin and distorted it slightly. It was like something had slashed at him, something with sharp talons.

 

He lowered the fork. “Hey. Sorry. You startled me. Grabbed the first thing I could,” he patted his toolbelt. He wouldn't be getting an Oscar anytime soon, but cheek scar Jason seemed to buy it.

 

“Magic?” he asked, nodding at the belt.

 

“Yessiree,” he grinned, “Dad gave it to me.” Well, it wasn't untrue. And he didn't want to say anything about Camp if there were monsters aboard the ship, with Jason looking relatively calm about it.

 

“Hephaestus?” He murmured, but it wasn't a question he seemed to want answered. “Well, if you didn't know, I'm Colonel Grace. Call me Jason though. Son of Zeus.” He stuck out his hand and Leo shook it.

 

“Leo Valdez.”

 

“Name sounds familiar. You known a Callie Atlas?”

 

Leo furrowed his brow and thought a second, “No, sorry.”

 

Jason nodded again, “You need something, Private?”

 

“Annabeth, she-,”

 

Jason seemed to let out a groan at that, “Tell her I'm busy.”

 

“But you aren't.”

 

Jason waved him off and started walking along the side of the ship. Leo followed behind him, without much choice in the matter, dodging the occasional glaze-eyed tourist.

 

“She called for you, she’s having trouble down there.”

 

He regretted the words as soon as they came out of his mouth. Jason stopped. Completely stopped so Leo had to halt abruptly to avoid crashing into him. “Well,” he said, “If she’s having that kind of trouble, I’m sure Mr. Jackson will be more than willing to help out.”

 

And then he whipped around and started walking again. “That’s not what I-,” Leo broke off, “she needs you for something alright?”

 

“Doesn’t she always?” Jason pushed a door on his right, walking back inside, and Leo barely had time to slide in after him before the door could slam in his face.

 

They seemed to be in a break room, though it was empty save for them. There was a table and a fridge and even a TV playing a news broadcast. Jason walked in like it was second nature and grabbed a cookie from a plate on the table.

 

He took two bites of it before looking back up at Leo and asking, “Why are you still here?”

 

“She’s going to go off on me if I don’t get back down there with you in tow, Mister.”

 

“Blah, blah, blah- Look, she’ll survive. She likes dealing with the annoying ones. That’s why we give them to her.”

 

Jason leaned back in his chair so that it rested on two legs, opening the fridge and trying to retrieve a bottle of coke. Leo strode over and grabbed it to him, which Jason took with an appreciative nod.

 

“Thanks.”

 

“Don’t mention it,” Leo said, “Now, look, are you going to help her handle the guy?”

 

“Look, she likes handling the prisoner,” his voice was sarcastic, but not bitter, “Likes handling him a lot.”

 

Leo didn't think of implications behind that. “Why do you care?”

 

Jason looked like he was about to get onto to Leo for speaking to a colonel so freely, but he just let the chair fall back down to rest on all four legs, sighed, and carded a hand through his hair. “I feel like she's distant, you know? Like she doesn't even want to be with me..”

 

Oh.

 

So that's how it was.

 

“What about Piper?” Leo found himself asking. He spun a chair around so the backrest was against the table and put his legs on either side of it.

 

“McLean? Our ears? No, he's…” Jason bit the inside of his cheek, unsure of an answer, “he's an ally.”

 

He? Leo blinked and gave Jason a long look. He was going to make his friends happy in every universe if it killed him. “Why are you with her?”

 

“I love her.” Jason said instinctively although his voice displayed no emotion.

 

“Do you?” Leo arched an eyebrow, taking a cookie from the platter.

 

“I don't know who you think you are to say stuff like this. I've had a crush on Annabeth since I was seven years old.” Jason told him.

 

“You've known her that long?” Leo asked, not quite believing it.

 

“Ever since we found her when we were on the run,” Jason started, “then two years after that I developed my crush, and I asked her out when I was fourteen.”

 

“You had a crush on her when you were seven,” he protested, “don’t’cha think people can change from then to now?”

 

Jason's expression seemed to darken almost defensively, “I don't know what you're implying…” he started, taking a swig of soda when he couldn’t find his words for a period of time, “but I'm not… Piper isn't…”

 

“I never said anything about you and Piper.”

 

“He's a guy.” Jason said, as if that explained everything.

 

“I know.”

 

“I have a girlfriend.”

 

“Jason,” Leo sighed, exasperated. How hard was it to convince a guy they were into guys?

 

“It's wrong.” he said after a prim silence. Leo almost spoke up with something about _your father didn't think it was so wrong_ , but then he continued. “I'm doing Annabeth wrong, Valdez. She doesn't deserve this.”

 

“She can't change you. She can only hide you.” He finished his cookie and reached for another one. Jason didn’t say anything, so he didn’t hesitate. Leo never thought that he'd ever have to help his best friend come out, so if he wanted to cope with cookies, he damn well would.

 

“Maybe I want to stay hidden.”

 

“What are you going to do when she wants to make something more of this, Jason?” he demanded. He had a foggy idea of who owned this world- given the fact Percy, Frank, and Nico were out of the question, Jason probably would never want to date Annabeth, nor would Piper want him to, and Hazel, himself, and anyone else it could've belonged to weren't present-but helping an otherworldly Jason get with an otherworldly Piper was at the top of his to do list!

 

“Sex?”

 

“No, I mean-,” Leo dropped off and sighed, “nevermind. All I'm saying is that the sooner the better.”

 

“it's not that easy.” Jason sounded meek and he cleared his throat, voice sounding lower and quieter than normal when he spoke again, “Piper and I already have a thing.”

 

“What?” He almost choked on his sweet. He has tried to account for all variables, but not _cheating_ , for gods’ sake.

 

“What if she figures that out, Leo?” Jason demanded, “What if no one respects me as a colonel? Luke told me it was a phase when I was thirteen, and I don't think it is.”

 

“Cheating is one thing, Jason, but liking guys? Do you think this is going to change how people see you?” He tried for reassuring, brushing over the cheating comment, “You're an amazing fighter and a great  strategist. You're a son of Zeus, for Elysium's sake! Jesus.”

 

“You just..” Jason blinked, “You switched ‘heaven’s sake’ to ‘Elysium's sake’ but you didn't change Jesus.”

 

“You can't change Jesus, man,” Leo said, “but Jesus can change you.”

 

Jason stared at him for a moment before starting to laugh. “Oh my god,” he took a deep breath to calm himself, “we need to hang out more.”

 

Leo felt a pang of guilt. He wouldn't get to hang out with this Jason. But he smiled anyways, “Yeah, dude. I'd love that. But, back to the subject.”

 

Jason groaned. “Do we have to?”

 

“Do you want your girlfriend to find out any other way?”

 

“No,” Jason shook his head, “Oh, gods, no.”

 

“Then you need to end it,” Leo said with finality in his voice, pointing the remaining half of his cookie at Jason, “I'm sure Piper doesn't like being your side girl either.”

 

“Guy. Side _guy_.”

 

“Same thing!”

 

“It's harder than that,” he muttered, “I can't last with Piper. He doesn't have security or safety or a style.”

 

Leo did know a few things about his friends, and one of them was- “Yeah, but you like that about him. The surprise. It's what you fell in love with.”

 

“Love?”

 

“Love.” Leo confirmed. Jason looked about as small as he'd ever seen the guy.

 

“I don't know about that, Leo.” Jason dropped his gaze, playing with the cap of his bottle, “It's not that easy.”

 

“Yes, it is! Love is a really weird and messed up thing, but it doesn't matter how long or how short a time you've known someone, Jason. It only depends on how you feel.” He really hoped this was true. Saying such a thing out loud only brought him more hauntingly painful memories of Calypso.

 

Jason huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “What I have with Piper is just a fling.”

 

“If he was dying,” Leo didn't have any place to speak about this, “If he was dying, would you go after him even if Annabeth told you not to?”

 

“He's a soldier,” Jason said quietly, “of course I would.”

 

Leo had been in battle. War was hell, absolute hell. He couldn't have saved everyone, and he knew some had fallen dead. “No. No you wouldn't, Jason, unless you were in love with him. Because a colonel doesn't let one soldier rank above the entire damn army.”

 

Leo didn't swear too often, at least not verbally, but he was doing a lot of it lately.

 

Jason didn't say anything. He refused to meet Leo's eyes. He stared at Jason for a long while, head dipped and hands busy peeling at the label of his bottle. Leo finished the rest of his cookie.

 

“If you loved Annabeth,” Leo said softly, “You would have busted in Percy's nose for flirting with her.”

 

Then he slowly murmured to no one that it was Annabeth’s world, and let the world dim without looking back up at Jason.


	6. Of Mothers and Kabobs and Tattered Old Photos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy & check out my tumblr!! [here](http://luciferslittlekitten.tumblr.com/)

Was it black? Maybe it was more of a dark gray. He blinked a few times- or tried to- but couldn’t settle the internal argument. He wasn’t sure how to exactly describe the darkness anymore. It was dark. It was black. It was quiet and boring.

And then the world appears like it always had, yadda yadda, whatever. Been there, done that. He was settled in what was pretty much the most pitiful living space he’d ever seen.

The apartment he was in was tiny. It would’ve been sad if it wasn’t decorated extensively: colorful blankets and pillows were strewn about, picture frames covering the walls, and it was quite tidy. It almost looked like a Pinterest dream come to life, of course downsized slightly to fit the apartment owner’s smaller budget.

Leo took out his fork to work it between his fingers. It was kind of a nice thing to have around, he realized. Like something that tied him to reality. He looked down at the small silver fork and gave it a nod of approval like the fork was an animate object that could understand this notion. He scrunched his face up at that. He didn’t wanna keep calling it a fork. This fork was familiar. He decided it was time that he named… Forky.

Yeah, that worked.

Was he really going crazy?

Leo took a step over to the side table right by the loveseat, kneeling down to squint at the picture. It looked to be Jason, almost. The boy looked younger, probably just barely a preteen, and didn’t look nearly as ripped as someone who’d been training nearly all their life.

Leo straightened up. He froze when he heard a voice demand. “Who the hell are you?”

He turned around to face a woman with tan skin, long brown hair that was streaked with some gray, eyes narrowed into fierce slits, and gripping a blade that was so dull it looked like it’d either been used too little or too much. She was tall, quite beautiful, but when she caught sight of Leo she immediately softened up. “Leo? That’s… You…” she blinked several times.

“Piper?” he blurted out, staring at the women in mild confusion. She looked old, she had to be at least in her thirties.

“Oh my god, Leo, I haven’t seen you in…” she looked like she was trying to hold back tears, “I haven’t seen you in over twenty years…” she covered the lower portion of her face with her hand. She set the knife aside.

“I…” Leo was left speechless. How did he respond to something like this?

“Jason, he’s going-,” she stopped herself abruptly, “Oh, well, that doesn’t matter. Come here.”

She held out her arms in a invitation to hug her. He shoved his fork in his pocket and surged forward, falling into Piper’s arms. She was warm and motherly.

“I knew time on Ogygia was varying, but this is insane…” She pulled away, hands firmly planted on your shoulders, “Where’s Calypso?”

“She… I…” He struggled to find words. This was far from the last world. “We’ve been staying in a hotel just a few blocks down. Once I found out you lived down here, I had to see you,” he lied, “Where’s Jason?”

Piper’s hands hands tightened almost deathly on his shoulders. “Jason?”

“Uh, yeah, I saw that picture of…” he trailed off, not wanting to make an incorrect assumption, “So where is he?”

Piper let her hands fall back to her side. “He’s… He’s been dead for twelve years.”

Leo stared at Piper for a long, long while. “He’s been what?”

“I’m sorry you can’t see him.”

“No, I don’t…” he shakes his head, “Are you okay?”

“No.” Piper deadpans, “No, it’s hard being by myself, Leo. I can’t expect you to understand- you might be as old as me, yeah, but you haven’t lived as long as me- but raising our son, making enough money to support us, protecting him…”

“Your son?”

“He’s thirteen,” Piper said, “Jason died when he was one year old. He doesn’t remember his father.”

“Do you tell him anything?” Leo asked, “About his dad? About Jason?” He decided to keep up the facade of being some long-lost Leo. Easier to learn things about Piper this way, right? Easier to learn about this world.

“I tell him enough. He doesn’t know he’s dead,” Piper said, “I try to keep him safe, though. He doesn’t know about his lineage.”

“He doesn’t know you’re a demigod.”

“Yep. All he knows is Jason was in the Air Force. And he was,” she clarified, “He was in Rome here in New York. It’s an Air Force base, ironically enough. The place was attacked by monsters. They killed him first, and then everyone else in the place.”

Leo fiddled with the ends of his sleeves. He wasn’t quite sure how to respond to this.

“You’re his godfather, you know,” Piper added, “My son’s. Xavier.”

“I am? But I haven’t…”

“Been around for twenty years? Yeah, I know. But it was your right. Jason missed you a lot. He had Percy and Frank, yeah, but you…” Piper looked near on the verge of tears, digging her fingernails into her palms, “You were his best friend.”

He blinked a couple of times, trying to take this in without completely breaking down. This Leo was absent. This Leo wasn’t him, and he felt dirty for acting like it was. How would Other Piper take it when he inevitably vanished? “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” Piper cleared her throat and closed her eyes a moment to regain herself.

“Are you still friends with, you know, the others?” Leo tried to change the subject.

“Oh… No. After Jason passed, I cut myself off. My father’d sort of spiraled down, leading a messy life. I didn’t get much inheritance. I’m basically living off the minor amount of that I got and my shitty part time jobs,” Piper laughed bitterly, “It’s kind of funny, really. Hazel’s a world renowned author, Frank’s a lawyer, Annabeth’s an amazing architect, and Percy was a model before he became a huge name in the marine biology department. Even Nico’s husband is a neurosurgeon. They’re loaded. I’m the only one of my friends whose life went downhill.”

“I’m sure they would be willing to help-,” Leo started, but that seemed to light some sort of fire in Piper’s eyes.

“I provide for Xavier just fine. I don’t want to live on their charity, spend my summers in the Jackson beach home in Italy or whatever. Besides, getting in close with them would be putting my son back in danger and if he was dead, I really would be all alone.”

“But sending him to camp is safer,” Leo insisted, “Don’t you know that?”

“Where they’ll send him on quests? Make him fight battles he’s much too young to fight? I refuse to have my son relive what I had to go through!” then she added quietly, “What we had to go through.”

“How did you get your friends to just forget you?”

“I died,” Piper said, “It just took a little help from my mother and manipulation of the mist, but me and my son died in a car crash five months after Jason died. The entire Grace family, save for Thalia, died in the same year.”

“Isn’t it more dangerous like this? I mean, you could’ve had friends to help you raise Xavier. He could’ve been training. Learning how to protect himself. Even still, he’s not a full demigod, so why should keeping him away from monsters matter?”

“You know me and Jason are both demigods, and with him being a child of Zeus, he has a very strong aura. Plus, monsters might want to target him to get revenge on Jason or something. On top of all that, he’s my son and I’m going to make sure he lives a normal life,” Piper’s eyes flickered over to the kitchen, “Are you hungry?”

“Hungry?” he asks, “I mean… Sure?” Truth be told, Leo had never felt more full in his life, but Piper probably just wanted off this topic. Come to think of it, he hadn’t needed much of anything since he’d died. Maybe that was why. He was dead.

“Xavier’s bringing over a friend today. You need to be gone around five, or else he’ll ask questions,” Piper leads him into the kitchen. He glances at the clock on the stove. 4:32 is what it reads, the little PM flashing beside it.

“Oh, alright. I can always drop by another time. Unless you don’t want me to.”

Piper lets the question fly by her ears, completely ignoring it. She pulls out a plate and sets it on the table. Next, she’s at the fridge. Leo speaks as she prepares whatever she’s preparing, “So, wow, it’s kinda crazy to see you…” he laughs a little. Keeping this role up is absolute hell, and he doesn’t want Piper getting suspicious, “Tell me about Xavier.”

Piper seems to lighten up a little bit at this. A small smile plays across her lips as she takes some ham and a block of cheese from the fridge and sets both items on the scarce kitchen space she has, “He plays soccer. Best on his entire team, in my opinion. He looks just like his father, and he acts just like him too. It’s uncanny. They’re so similar.” Piper looks so sad, yet so happy. It’s a weird combination Leo doesn’t think he likes, “He’s a smart kid. Just not… He’s not good at showing it.”

Leo nodded. “So he’s not, like, book-smart?”

Piper chopped up pieces of cheese and cut pieces of ham. She opened a nearby drawer, taking out tin of toothpicks, and pulling it out. “No. He’s average. Maybe a little below. But I know he’s not an idiot.”

“Have you ever remarried?” Leo asked, “It’s been over a decade since… you know.”

Piper’s expression darkened. “I have never considered it nor will I ever do it. There will never be a guy on par with Jason.”

“Wouldn’t you think he’d want to have you happy even when he’s not here?” Leo continued, at this point just simply wanting to help.

She was quiet for so long that Leo was certain she was just going to ignore him once more. But after a moment she inhaled and then exhaled her words, “I want to be happy with him.”

And Leo didn’t push it any further, simply watching Piper stab toothpicks into the ham and cheese stacks and hand him a plate. He took it, thanked her quietly, and ate one. For a block of cheddar cheese and piece of honey ham, it was pretty good.

“Do you plan on marrying Calypso?” Piper asked and Leo nearly choked on the toothpick he was eating off of.

“W-Well,” he stammered, less from embarrassment and more from the lasting shock he’d almost died (could he die, when he was already technically dead?), “time’s different for us… I want to, for sure, though. You’d be my best woman, right?”

Piper laughed a little and gave Leo a sidelong glance, “Yeah, I would love that.”

Leo’s heart tightened in his chest. He’d never felt particularly bad for deceiving clones in the other universes, but here, with a Piper that was seemingly so vulnerable, he was guilty beyond belief. He needed to get out before anything-

“Mom! I’m home!” Piper stiffened at the announcement. She didn’t have time to tell Leo to get away before a boy bounded into the kitchen and instinctively opened the fridge, dropping his bag off by the couch.

“Yes! You got Coke!” He grinned and pulled out a can. This must be Xavier. His expression morphed into one of confusion when he turned and Leo. He did look like Jason. Scarily like Jason. His eyes were blue as the sky and he was rather well-built for a 7th grader. His blonde hair taper-styled. The only thing that wasn’t Jason was the lack of his lip scar and the small portion of his hair that’d been offed by that weird pirate dude.

“Mom..?” Xavier asked cautiously, “Who is this?”

Leo butt in before Piper could come up with an excuse. “Leo Valdez. Pleasure to meet you.”

The boy narrowed his eyes, “You’re… a high schooler. Older than me, at least. Why are you here?”

“I…” Piper gave him a warning look, “My dad knew your dad.”

Xavier didn’t seem to be happy about hearing this, or even indifferent. “Oh,” he muttered, “ _him_.”

“Yeah,” Leo said, somewhat confused at the boy’s tone, “him.”

“Not anyone that matters, I guess,” Xavier said half under his breath, taking a swig of his soda and leaning on the counter. Leo felt his eyes widen.

“Xavier Leonardo Grace!” Piper exclaimed.

“What?” Xavier shot back, “Why should I care about the guy who left you, doesn’t pay any child support, and doesn’t care about his own son?”

She took a deep breath, trying hard to keep her cool. “Your father isn’t a bad person, Xee-Xee,” Piper reprimanded. Xavier seemed to flush at the use of the nickname, coughing to hide his embarrassment.

“I’m not a baby anymore, Mom,” he huffed.

Piper arched an eyebrow humorously. “Oh? Well, you’re my baby.” Before Xavier could protest, she walked over to him and gave him a hug. He groaned and complained like a teenage boy ought to, which prompted Leo to manage a small laugh.

She let go of him, holding his shoulder, “Now, where’s this friend of yours?”

“Should be here soon,” Xavier said, stepping out of her grasp and picking up a ham-and-cheese-kabob from Leo’s plate and eating it. Leo didn’t mind all too much.

Piper gave Leo a critical look. “Swear on the Styx you won’t hurt Xavier.”

“Mom, you’re being-,”

But Leo felt the drawing urge to do as she said. Charmspeak. “I swear on the Styx.”

Piper looked satisfied. “I’m going to take the laundry down. You two’ll be good?”

They both mumble positives. Piper nodded and grabbed the laundry bag from the couch. She glanced back at them, and then headed out the door.

There was silence between the two boys for a moment.

“So,” Xavier started, “How does your dad know mine?”

“Old friends,” Leo said. Xavier took a drink of his Coke. His eyes flickered over to Leo for a moment. They widened.

“Wait-,” he sat his can on the counter, gripping Leo’s wrist and dragging him into the living room, “Wait, wait.”

“I’m waiting..?” Leo’s voice rose at the end in a question.

Xavier stood on his tip toes to get a book down from the top shelf of a cabinet. When he got it, he flipped through the first few pages. He beckoned Leo over, who stepped over and read the book over his shoulder. It was in Greek. Leo was about to ask a question before he flipped to a random page in the middle of the book and pulled out a stack of photos paperclipped together. They looked old and worn, like someone had gone over them a millions times.

Xavier tossed the book on the couch, taking the paperclip binding the pictures off, and held one up to Leo. “That’s him? Your dad?”

Leo blinked at the picture. He… remembered taking some on an old-timey camera they’d found in Bunker 9 with Jason and Piper back when they were building the Argo II. Leo was on the right, and Jason and Piper to his left. Jason was holding up a piece sign, one arm around Piper, and all three of them were smiling like idiots as one of Leo’s arms held the camera in front of them to snap the picture. It wasn’t his dad, it was him, but he nodded anyways.

“And those are my parents,” he said, laying his index finger over the smiling faces of Jason and Piper, “I’ve been wondering who…” he shook his head, “Wow. Does you know anything about my dad?”

Completely deviating from how he acted earlier, Xavier’s eyes shone with enticement and interest. Leo didn’t know why the guy was so bipolar about his father’s stance in his life. He decided not to ask.

“Only what my dad tells me,” Leo lied through his teeth, “Why?”

“Can you tell me?” He asked, flicking through the pictures. “Your dad, some time around where the others come in, drops out of the pictures. He’s not in them anymore.”

“The others?”

“The black haired boy, the blonde girl,” he held out a group picture of the seven, minus him, and Nico and Reyna, “The Asian kid, the black girl, the tall girl and emo boy, my parents. This is the first picture your dad isn’t in. Then it goes on, all the way to the wedding pictures…” he trailed off, showing Leo a picture of Percy and Annabeth’s wedding, “Those two.”

“You’ve been studying these,” Leo pointed out, “But you said you didn’t care about your father.”

“I don’t,” he snapped defensively, “I care about finding out where he went and how to get him to repay what he’s taken from us.”

Somehow, Leo didn’t quite believe him.

“It doesn’t matter anyways. Chuck’s the one who suggested I try and unravel my past. He’s my friend.”

“Chuck?”

“Yeah, he’s supposed to be on his way,” he clipped the photos back into place and carefully laid them in the book, closing it and returning it to the shelf.

“Xavier…” Leo started hesitantly, “I can tell you everything you need to know about your dad.”

His eyes widened. “You can?”

Leo grabbed a notepad and a pen from one of the lower shelves and began to scrawl onto it. “Look, I don’t know how soon your mom will be back, but this is important.”

Xavier nodded, looking instinctively to the door. Leo tore off the note and handed it to Xavier.

It read:

_CAMP HALF-BLOOD_  
_long island sound_  
_mention jason grace (hes your dad)_  
_do not tell your mom_  
_ask your friend about it- he may know something_

“Camp Half-Blood?” Xavier met Leo’s eyes again.

“Yeah, it’s a safe place. If you ever feel like something’s after you…”

“Go there,” Xavier finished for him. Leo nodded. “How do I know you’re not just trying to, I don’t know, prank me?”

“I wouldn’t do that.”

“Would you? And why would I be unsafe?"

Leo didn’t respond. He was directly disobeying Piper’s wishes, going against what he’d been told, and potentially sending some kid to his death. This world couldn’t be Percy’s or Nico’s or Frank’s or Annabeth’s. This world was unlikely to be Hazel’s or Reyna’s or anything. It was Piper’s or Jason’s at this point. And wouldn’t Jason be alive in his own world?  
  
He needed to help Xavier first, that was top priority. “Your dad didn’t leave you, Xavier. He died.” Leo blinked a few times, “He… Your mother kept this from you to protect you.”

“I don’t get it,” Xavier murmured, “What do you mean?”

He didn’t say anything back, though, because he finally realized the deal here. Jason didn’t need to be alive in his own world to be terrified of it. Jason would be scared of dying without a reason. Jason would love to have a son, but be horrified if he were to grow up without a father. Jason would hate to see Leo, his best friend, never return after the war. Jason would hate seeing Piper trying to isolate herself and their son from the only world he’d ever know.

“Jason,” Leo muttered without thinking about it. Immediately he began to fade. Xavier watched him with wide eyes.

“You can’t leave! I need to know these things!”

“Go to Camp,” Leo insisted as his image faded, feeling like he was acting out some horribly dramatic scene in a B-list fantasy flick, “You’ll find it all out.”

The last thing he remembered of that world was Xavier’s desperate expression as he vanished from the living room.


	7. Of Frat Boys and Emos and Love-Hating Bitches

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> check out my tumblr [here](http://luciferslittlekitten.tumblr.com/)

_If you like Piña Coladas_

_And getting caught in the rain_

_If you’re not into yoga_

_If you have half a brain_

Leo hummed quietly in the darkness, trying to forget about Jason’s world, the lyrics playing over and over in his mind. He didn’t remember much more of the song. Was he finally going crazy? Nah, he couldn’t be going crazy. He poked himself with Forky to remind himself he was still alive.

As soon as he jabbed the dull spikes of Forky into his forefinger, the world began to reappear around him. And thank god it did so at a familiar site- camp. It was like appearing on the Argo II. He glanced around camp. It looked normal enough, he supposed. Hordes of kids messing about, doing whatever…

Then he saw Hazel.

He’d never been more confused. He poked himself with Forky again to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. 

He was used to innocent smiles and a cute giggle. A lithe frame that was covered by her Camp Jupiter tee that was probably the smallest size they carried but still a tad too big. This Hazel, however, was none of those things. She was standing maybe a few yards away. She was wearing black skinny jeans, a flannel in dark hues of red and purple under a black hoodie, and her hair looked messy as ever.

He took a few steps forward. She immediately whirled around, glared at Leo, and demanded, “What do you want, Valdez?” Upon closer inspection, he saw that her lips were colored with black lipstick and her eyes abused with eyeliner. Her shirt depicted some type of edgy design. Around her neck were strands of jewelry, and on her hands there were several expensive-looking rings and bracelets.

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how she’d got them.

“Uh, hey, sorry,” he said.

She narrowed her eyes. “What the hell do you want?”

Leo was actually taken aback at that. He’d thought that if he said a naughty word aboard the Argo II, Hazel would literally take him by the ear and make him wash his mouth out with soap. “Just… uh…”

“Make it snappy, android! I’ve got enough problems with that meathead Ares kid who won’t piss off. I don’t need your load dumped on me too. Go bother my brother next time, will you?” She pulled down the sleeves of her hoodie which has previously been rolled up to her elbow and took out a pair of fingerless gloves that she put on over all of her (most probably very deathly) rings.

Android? He looked Hazel over against. She looked like what your typical Hades kid would look like- so very, very emo.

“Well? What do you want, idiot?” She barked, causing Leo to actually jerk back a bit.

“Do you know where Jason and Piper are?” He asked hesitantly. He’d never been so scared of Hazel in his life.

“Probably sucking each other’s faces off in his cabin,” she faked a gag, or maybe it was real, and rolled her eyes, “Maybe you could get in on the action, Valdork. Those who go at it like rabbits and I’m sure they wouldn’t mind adding you to the mix.”

Leo stared at Hazel as if he’d just seen a puppy get kicked into the street and then get ran over by a car before it’s corpse got violently eaten away at by scavenger birds.

“What, you gonna stare at me all day?” she shooed him off, “Go mess with the Ares kid. He’s probably desperate enough to let you have a shot with him.” Then she spun on her heels and started off. Leo didn’t waste much time watching her go, but he was practically meet with an immovable force the second he turn around.

“Frank?” he asked after a second, “Uh, hey, buddy…”

Frank didn’t look like a person he should be calling buddy.

If the dude could’ve looked any more scary than he did in his world, he did here. If you took the most stereotypical Mars kid- well, Hazel’d called him an Ares kid, but same difference- on the entire planet and made him tall, Chinese, and able to shapeshift, that would be this variation of Frank.

“Don’t call me that,” Frank’s voice had an odd commander-like quality to it. “Why were you talking to her.”

It was a question that didn’t quite come out like one. Much more like a direct order. “Oh, y’know, just asking her about my friends…” he laughed nervously and clasped his hands behind his back. He stepped away from Frank. “I’ll just be going now.”

“Back the hell off, Valdez,” Frank said coldly, staring at Leo intensely.

“Yeah,” he near whispered, “definitely.” Then he hit the ground running and didn’t look back to where Frank stood. Jesus, was everyone here terrifying?

He spun around and tried to find a familiar face. Everything looked so strange. Like, it was the same place for sure, but it’s been run through filters and editing stunts. Everyone just looked so… cookie cutter.

The Apollo kids hung off the porch of their cabin and sang. The Aphrodite kids were mostly inside, but some were sitting on the steps to the front door and chatting mindlessly, doing their makeup and stuff. The Demeter kids looked like they’d literally become one with nature.

Leo sighed and rubbed his temples. He was overthinking things. “Okay, Valdez, get it together…” he murmured to himself.

He started towards the dip of the U-shape the cabins were to get to the Zeus cabin. The big white pillars shone in the daylight, but there was a cooler on the porch of the place,a few lawn chairs, and sunglasses on the windowsill. It looked more lived-in. He knocked on the door.

He was about to draw the conclusion that Jason wasn’t in when the door swung open and he saw his friend. Messy hair, no shirt, in no other clothing than boxers, and he yawned upon seeing Leo.

“Dude,” he groaned, “Too fucking early.”

He hadn’t even heard Jason curse so casually. Not as strange as Hazel, but still weird.

“It’s midday, Grace.”

“I’ve been busy all night, bro. I’ve got one killer hangover, and Piper’s still in bed. Why didn’t you go bother Percy?”

Leo blinked at him. Did he mean _her_ bed or _his_ bed?

“Just come in,” Jason relented, eyes squinted in the daylight, “I’ll get dressed.”

He ushered Leo inside the cabin and slammed the door. It was kind of a mess.The only thing that hadn’t been obstructed was Zeus’ statue in the middle of the room. The floor was covered in dirty clothing. There was a fridge in the corner of the cabin that’d been set up a kitchen, with counters and the like. There was a rack of women’s clothing by the dresser. In the dresser itself, there was clothing sticking out of drawers and quite a few bras hanging by their straps on one of the top drawers. Jason picked some clothes from the floor, they looked clean enough to Leo, and headed for the bathroom, clicking the door closed behind him.

The door to the bathroom had a hole in it, like someone had punched it in. Beer cans were strewn on every flat surface, and there were even some on the floor. It looked so stereotypically jock-y teenager, Leo couldn’t believe this was Jason’s cabin. From the right, he heard a rustle of blankets, then a pitiful whine of, “Babe…” He looked over. There, on Jason’s massive king-sized bed, was Piper.

Or, at least, it kind of looked like Piper.

Her hair was long and layered and highlighted with shades of brown that rippled together. She was like a princess, she had minimal bedhead despite having just woken up. She shoved the blankets off her, clothed, thank the gods, for Leo to see she was dressed in a very un-Piper get up- a black lacy bra and panties. She stretched and looked over at Leo with a wave, like him seeing her nearly-naked was an everyday occurrence. Leo’s face colored and Piper arched an eyebrow.

“The android shows some emotion!” she laughed, flipping her hair back over her shoulder and slipping out of the bed, “Leo, be a dear and grab me my white crop top and my navy skater skirt?”

Leo stared at her blankly. “Uh… Yeah. It’s hanging?”

“Mhm.”

Leo stepped over to the rack. He pushed aside some non-skirt stuff until he was left with dresses and actual skirts. The first navy skirt was a pencil one, and the second had to be the skater. Right? Right. He knew a crop top was a shirt short, so he picked the only plain white one Piper had on hand. He gave those to her, and hoped that was the answer.

“Thanks, hon. Tell Jason not to wear orange today, please.” She asked. Leo complied, once more, and yelled through the bathroom door, “Piper says no orange today.”

He heard a hissed curse, then the sound of fabric sliding against something. “I’ll be out in five, Leo.”

He started to look around, only to see Piper’s back, bare of a bra strap. He immediately spun around, as he did not want to see one of his best friends naked. Was this Leo really this comfortable with his friends?

Jason was out of the bathroom in a bit. They were stuck in the cabin for a while longer, though, as Piper dressed her hair up into a bun, tracked down her necklace that Jason apparently got her for their three-month anniversary, and did her makeup. He never thought about how straining being friends with a girly Piper would’ve been.

They bustled out of the cabin after that. Leo trailed behind his two friends, feeling really out of place. He glanced off towards the other cabins as they passed. Everything was so relaxed. Perhaps this was a world where there was never a war. That’d be nice. If only everyone weren’t so…

He couldn’t put his finger on it.

It was like one of those bad high school movies, where there was always one person less popular than his friends. Leo was that kid. Everything seemed to slow as Jason and Piper walked. People stared. He hated being behind him, no one even seemed to notice he was there.

He’d already been called android twice, and he didn’t know why. It was a pretty pitiful insult, not really insulting at all, but it still rubbed him the wrong way. He sighed and dragged his feet as he walked.

It was probably around noon. Jason had been training with some Ares kids for the past hour or so. He was sitting next to Piper in the stands off the training grounds, who was checking her appearance in a compact mirror.

“You’re a lot more talkative today,” Piper said, eyes still trained on her own face as she applied a layer of lipgloss.

“I am?”

“Yeah, I like it,” she snapped the compact closed and caused Leo to flinch. Her eyes lit up at this.

“You flinched!” she exclaimed, “You are human!”

Leo narrowed his eyes slightly, turning away from Piper. It wasn’t like he was a machine…

“So, you have you eye on any girls?”

This broke Leo from trance. “No,” he said immediately.

Piper wriggled her eyebrows, and in a sing-song voice, said, “I don’t believe you!”

“I would tell you if there was a girl,” he tried to sound matter-of-fact.

“Uh-huh,” she drawled, “Is it Kayla? Lou Ellen? Oh, gods, Drew?”

“No, no, and definitely not.”

Piper huffed and sank back into though. “Is it a guy?”

Leo’s face colored. “No!”

Piper grinned. “Ooh, it totally is!” She squealed and grabbed Leo’s hands, turning slightly on her seat to look at him, “Is it Solace? Or one of the Stolls?” she gasped, “One of your brothers?”

“Ew! No!” he exclaimed.

“You’re so emotional!” Piper stressed. Why was this so odd to her? Of course he was. He noticed Piper wasn’t looking at him anyone, instead glancing over his shoulder. He turned around to see who Piper was staring at, but she gripped his chin and turned his face back to her.

“It’s just Annabitch,” Piper told him, “Don’t look in the serpent’s eyes and she won’t hurt us.”

He wasn’t looking at her, but Piper wasn’t exactly being quiet, and he could feel Annabitch’s (Annabeth, probably) aura of hate.

“Skank,” Annabeth muttered under her breath. Leo hadn’t ever been caught in a catfight, but he felt like one was about to start, because Piper’s face turned cold immediately.

Her smile was forced, her eyes were hard, and she laughed humorlessly, looking down at Leo and saying, “Sorry, Leo, I thought I saw a bottle blonde worth my time and effort speaking to. Not like those exist, though.”

“I’m not a bottle blonde.”

“Mhm, sure, honey.”

Annabeth murmured something under her breath. This time, when Leo turned around, Piper let him. She had glasses resting on the bridge of her nose, eyes scanning the pages of a thick book. Three more books were stacked beside. Her hair was falling out from behind her ear and into her face, her features strained from trying to look indifferent. She was wearing a pair of black leggings that came just below her knees and a sky blue button up with the sleeves rolled to her elbows.

“What was that?” Piper bit out, “No need to be so salty, Bethy.”

Leo saw Annabeth stiffen.

Piper’s grin was terribly mean. “Super-duper salty all the time. Constantly giving everyone that ‘waiting until marriage’ krillshit, cod. Water you even trying to hide, Annabetta-fish?”

There was nothing subtle about the insults. Annabeth’s fingers dug into the pages of her books.

“Why so quiet? Don’t be crabby. You know that your deep sea fintasies are coming truer by the day. And, besides, I thought you knew Percy was an asshole.” Annabeth was unresponsive, “Hey, birdbrain! I’m talking to you! What’s the deal, think you’re better than me because you’re ‘smart’? Because you aren’t a ‘whore’?” Piper made air quotes around the words she stressed, “Gods, the only time your nose isn’t buried in the book is when you’ve got it buried in between Percy’s fucking legs.”

Piper wasn’t just being teasing. Piper was being a full-on, honest-to-gods, completely and utter bitch. Or, rather, beach. He could've slapped himself. That wasn’t funny.

Annabeth took in a deep breath, closed her book, looked at Piper, and spoke. “I don’t have a problem, I just prefer not to talk to girls who try to act like they’re better than me because they can name twenty clothing lines from one designer without batting an eye. When you remember stuff like that, I bet your brain feels as good as new, seeing that you never use it.”

Mentally, Leo ‘ooohed’ and yelled smackdown! He didn’t say anything aloud, though. He always saw Annabeth and Piper as, well, allies. Not friends, no, they spent far too little time together to he considered that, but certainly not hostile towards each other. What was going on?

“And at least my boyfriend’s not fucking my half-sister.”

This was the final straw in the field for Piper, because her face turned red. She looked almost murderous. “You-,” she managed before there were whoops from the training grounds and Jason, shirtless and sweaty, was high-fiving and giving those bro-hugs to the guys he’d been training with. Piper stood, dusted off the front of her outfit, glared at Annabeth, and stalked over to Jason to go coo over him.

Annabeth looked up at him after a moment. He could tell there was something akin to pity in her eyes. He didn’t like it.

“Sorry she’s like that,” he blurted out to Annabeth, perhaps a little too loud, because she jumps a little, her glasses sliding down her nose.

“It’s quite alright,” she says.

“I think it was pretty cool, what you said to her.”

He vaguely recognizes Annabeth is smiling as she looks back down at her book,”Yes, well, sometimes people need to be put in their place. Quite odd of you to say that though. Mostly you follow Jason and Piper around. Are they even good friends?”

“They’re…” he starts, then hesitates, because he doesn’t know if they are or aren’t in this world. Annabeth seems to take this as a negative.

“You shouldn’t hang out with people that treat you like nothing,” Annabeth looks strangely defeated as she says this, like this advice is something she’d have liked to hear, “They ruin you, you know.”

Leo nods slowly. “What she said about Percy…”

Annabeth groaned and Leo feared he’d hit a sore subject. “True, all of it. He’s beautiful and I love him but he’s such. An. Asshole.” She punctuates for emphasis.

“Like father like son.”

“No kidding,” Annabeth grumbled, “He’s always going from girl to girl, no regard for his childhood best friend, no regard for his other friends, always reckless, always leaping before he looks- he’s a mess with pretty eyes and an award-winning smile.”

“Like me,” he jokes, and to his surprise, Annabeth actually laughs.

“I like you better when you’re not completely emotionless.”

There was that again.

“Yeah, well, I’m trying to make an effort,” he shrugs, “And, you know, if Percy’s being an ass, try and talk to him. He won’t get any better than you.”

Annabeth didn’t exactly smile, but he gaze dropped and the corners of her mouth turned her. She looked like she was blushing, but he face barely colored. “I appreciate that.”

When she looked back up at him with cool gray eyes, Leo noticed for the first time how beautiful Annabeth was. Back in his world, she’d been a leader. A wise old mother-figure who sometimes helped him fix up the ship. She wasn’t attractive, she was Annabeth. But here, he noticed things. He noticed her tan skin that was still lighter than Percy’s, how her eyes were flecked with so many different shades of gray, how she had a small heart-shaped mole under her left eyes and towards her ear, and how her lips were constantly pursed, like she was always annoyed or something.

He broke eye contact first, looking down with embarrassment. Soon, that embarrassment was replaced with disgust. This was one of his friend’s girlfriends he was gawking over. He shouldn’t be thinking these things about anyone, much less Annabeth. Besides, he had Calypso. That’s part of the reason he was risking his life like this, to save the woman he loved. He’d barely hashed down who lived in this world whatsoever. He was constantly off topic.

“You know,” Annabeth said, “Maybe it’s not worth my time fawning over a boy who doesn’t give me the time of day.”

His stomach fell to his feet. He was setting Other Leo up for failure, he didn’t know what he was doing, he had to stay on topic. This was gross, this was Percy’s girlfriend, for gods’ sakes, and she was looking at him with the sparkling hint of something in her eyes.

Like Calypso had looked just before they kissed. And this realization comes too little and too late, because before he can back off, Annabeth has leaned in and given him a soft peck on his cheek. She pulls back with a semi-flustered look. He knows he’s way redder.

He doesn’t think of how gross this is.

He doesn’t think of how this is his friend’s girlfriend.

He doesn’t think that he’s kinda-sorta got a girlfriend of his own.

All he can think is how soft Annabeth’s lips are, and it’s sending waves of guilt through him.

“Get a room!” Jason yells, and this makes Annabeth’s face go a shade darker. His friends laugh, and while Piper laughs along, she gives Leo cold look. She was not amused.

Annabeth gathers up her books quickly, ducking away from Leo. “So, uh, I was wondering…”

Leo stared at her as she stumbles and stammers.

“Me and Percy aren’t strictly dating, so, um…”

“I’d love to go out with you,” he says before he can help it. Annabeth’s eyes widen and she smiles.

“Wow. Okay. Thank you.” She looks genuinely happy, dimples showing on either side of her face and making her look childish. He hasn’t seen any version of Annabeth smile this much in a long time.

“Catch you later,” he says lamely, and she dips her head in goodbye before heading off. Leo’s head is spinning, his mind dizzy. He didn’t know how to feel about anything anymore. Annabeth’s so genuine and nerdy and adorable in this world and oh my gods has he really just thought those things about Percy’s girlfriend holy hell he’s a terrible person he’s such a terrible person-

He’s shaken out of his thoughts by Piper- literally. She has a hand on either shoulder and is wriggling him. “Leo, what the hell was that?” Jason stands a bit behind her, not really joining her argument but not defending Leo either.

“You asked if there was a girl. There was.”

“But not that whore!” Piper protests.

“You’re one to talk.” Leo mutters, pushing Piper’s hands off his shoulder. Piper stares. Jason pushes forward.

“What did you just say, Valdez?”

This guy is supposed to be his friend, but right now, he looks like all the other jocks that ever bullied him. There’s no friendliness in his eyes. There never was any friendliness in this Jason’s eyes, nor was there any in Piper’s.

“Your girlfriend’s a whore,” he repeats, then crossed his arms over his chest, “I’m going.”

“You… you…” Piper splutters.

Leo turns around without another word and walks away.

“Get back here, Leo! Now!” He hears Jason command, followed by Piper’s cry of, “Didn’t you hear us! Leo! Leo Valdez!”

They were ordering him around and he despised it. Maybe he was just frustrated, because people treated him like he was a dog, someone who followed his friends around mindlessly. He pushed into the Hephaestus cabin, seeking to find something to do. Besides, to Jason and Piper’s knowledge, it’s where he’d logically go. He needed to blow off some steam before he could even try to figure out whose world this was. It was mostly empty, he assumed most kids were in the Bunker. Except one workstation next to a bunk with metal sheets drawn around the area. Noises of work was coming from it. Leo took a step closer, confused as to why anyone would want to work in here, and the curtains opened by themselves. He stared at himself. Other-wordly himself.

“Hello,” his other version said. He was dirty with grease and oil, fingers and hands blistered so badly tape was wrapped around portions, hair a complete mess, goggles drawn over his eyes. Other Leo’s mouth was drawn in a hard, cold line and he looked creepily indifferent.

“Uh…”

“You’re me.”

His words were short, precise, and cool.

“Uh… yeah?”

“Was it a god?”

Leo nodded, slightly put off.

“Oh,” said other Leo, “That’s interesting. How long are you going to be here, me?”

It was a question, obviously, but it didn’t come across as one. Leo stared at his counterpart. He sort of got why he was being called android, why Piper flipped at him showing emotion, why Annabeth had seemed slightly confused about his actions, why people regarded him like a dog. He’d always thought he’d been the most stereotypical Hephaestus kid, but that wasn’t true. This guy was. He was cold, quiet, unmoving and unemotional- like a machine more so than a human.

Then it hit him.

Stereotypical. They were all stereotypical.

It made so much sense it was funny. Piper’s bitchy girly-girlness, Jason’s fratboy lifestyle, Annabeth’s glasses and witty nerdiness, Hazel’s emo-esque outfits and glares, Frank’s menacing and brooding demeanor, even Percy’s unable-to-be-tied-down personality.

He knew that these things weren’t strictly what the gods were like, but that’s because they were stereotypes. They were what people thought they were like.

Percy, Nico, Frank, Annabeth, and Jason were out of the running. That left Hazel, Piper, and perhaps Reyna. The last person… Calypso? Maybe? He couldn’t know. It was hardly Hazel’s world, he doubted she dreamed of or feared godly parent stereotypes. Reyna wasn’t even present, but he supposed, after Jason’s world, the person didn’t need to be.

Maybe it was Piper’s.

And that did make sense.

Piper revelled in defying the Aphrodite stereotypes. The guy she’d got her cornucopia from had tried to convince her that sons of Zeus were trouble, and she hadn’t listened. She didn’t encourage breaking hearts and starting trouble in the name of love, she preached just the opposite.

Piper hated stereotypes.

And this world was full to the brim with them.

“Not much longer,” he admitted. _At least if I’m right,_ he thought. “Listen, what do you think about Annabeth Chase?”

The right corner of Other Leo’s mouth tugged up, like a sort-of smile. “I like her.”

“She asked me out, thinking it was you. Maybe you should go out with her…?”

Other Leo’s face actually did brighten at this, no longer quite so cold. He pulled off his goggles, “but you aren’t like me.”

“Open up to her,” Leo insisted, “Don’t be so robotic. We’re the same person, I swear, we just express ourselves in different ways.”

Other Leo blinked amber eyes at him.

“Just don’t be so mechanical,” he told him, then added quietly, “Piper.”

Thank Lord he was right.

The world swirled up into a giant tornado of darkness and then there was nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you guys hadn't already hated me...  
> Guess what ship has sailed? Annabeth and Leo!  
> I don't actually like it, but it kind of came to me while writing, and I liked the idea of it.


	8. Of Witches and Cats and Two Dead Besties

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Easter, fuckwads!  
> Oh my god, I am so sorry about not updating! I'll try and be quicker in the future!  
> If you've got ay questions regarding Leo and his Fork, or if you just wanna stalk me, you can check out my tumblr [here!](http://luciferslittlekitten.tumblr.com/)

_Leo looked like a Latino Santa’s elf, with curly black hair, pointy ears, a cheerful, babyish face, and a mischievous smile that told you right away this guy should not be trusted around matches or sharp objects. His long, nimble fingers wouldn’t stop moving- drumming on the seat, sweeping his hair behind his ears, fiddling with the buttons of his army fatigue jack-_

Leo barely registered the noise escaping his throat. There was a throbbing pain in his cranium, as if someone had just speared a pole through the side of his head. It hurt like hell, words that pushed themselves into every nook and cranny of his mind and screamed sentences that he couldn’t get to stop. Why weren’t they stopping? He felt powerless, out of control of himself.

_“Anyways,” Leo said, “I hope you’ve got your worksheet, ‘cause I used mine for spit wads days ago. Why are you looking at me like that? Somebody draw on my face again?”_

_“I don’t know you,” Jason said._

_Leo gave him a crocodile grin. “Sure. I’m not your best friend. I’m his evil clone.”_

Ages ago, eons ago, even, did he have this conversation with Jason. Jason Grace was his name, right? What’s wrong with him, of course Jason is his name! He’s his best friend!

His own thoughts clashed with the nonstop recital of past conversations, along with additional narration he wasn’t sure of, made him want to rip off his head. He couldn’t feel anything but the pain. The rest of his body may as well have been gone. Maybe he was an amputee now. A full-body amputee, like those enclosed head cases from Futurama. Jokes aside, he was in the worst agony he’d been in in a considerable amount of time, and no amount of thinking of his own was going to stop that.

It’s very hard to stop thinking when you’re thinking about trying to stop thinking.

There was still a scream tearing from his throat, but it sounded like he was underwater or something and oh my god maybe he was underwater because suddenly he couldn’t breath and suddenly he felt like his head was about to explode and he couldn’t handle this _it’s not going to stop Leo you’re going to fucking die-_

And then his head was pulled back up from a tub of water and he was choking and spluttering and inhaling deep gasps of sweet, sweet oxygen. Hair was in his eyes but he could make out some figures through the slight haze of curly locks. There was a hand that grasped the back of his head and tugged on his hair so hard he feared it might tear from his scalp. His hands were bound behind him with something like rope, which burned his skin.

“What the fuck do you know about the girl, dammit!” Someone shouted at him in an oddly high voice and he couldn’t find a response so his head was shoved back into the water.

When he was pulled back out once more, he coughed and gagged for air.

“I’m gonna ask you one last time, Valdez,” the man said again as he stepped forward and dug fingers into his chin. His head was forced up to look into the blue eyes of a brunet man with rage alight in his features, “What do you know?”

“John!” He heard someone shout, and the hand reluctantly let go of him. Leo let his head fall back down, and he decided to remain solemn, and concentrated his eyes on cracked stone flooring. He’d never arrived in a preordained situation before…

“Sammy…”

“No, John, stop this. Let me talk to him.”

There was a small grumble in the group of people he could hazily make out before he felt a hand sweep hair from his face. Staring back at him was… himself?

No, he’d been called Sammy.

Staring back at him was Sammy Valdez.

“Leo!” He exclaimed, “oh, Lord, Leo…”

“What?”

“I thought, that last one, you were underwater for a long time so I thought…”

He shook his head faintly. “Nah, I’m still kickin’.”

He furrowed his brow at him in confusion. Maybe 40’s slang was different? “I’m fine.”

His eyebrows unscrunch. “I can see that,” he chuckled.

“Kid, we’re trying to do our job here.”

“I know that,” he said, and let his eyes flutter closed, “Look.... just… let me speak to him? I know what you guys are going to do and I… I…”

There was a stillness in the room. “Fine,” said another man, “Hurry.”

“What do they want?” He whispered desperately to Sammy.

“You know what they want, Leo, they…” he cupped his face, “My wife. They’re going to kill both of you unless you tell them about her magics.”

“Her _whats_?”

“Magics.” After Leo gave Sammy a blank stare the man continued, “Her witchcraft.”

Sammy let one hand drop from Leo’s face to push back a few strands of wet hair. “You have to confess. Tell them what she is, what she’s done. You _know._ ”

“I… I…” His throat was dry, his words weren’t working. What was going on?

“You’ll end up like your friends if you don’t,” he hissed desperately, “You aren’t a hellspawn like they were. Leo, we are one in the same.”

“My friends?”

“Jason. And Piper.”

He nodded solemnly. Leo didn’t know why Jason and Piper were apparently hellspawns, but he was still scared out of his wits about it.

“Your wife, what did your wife do?” Leo whispered.

“You know what she did!”

“Sammy! We have to conduct this-,”

“I know!” Sammy snapped as he turned to look back at the other man. “Just let me…”

“Valdez-,”

“He’s my brother,” Sammy said as he let his eyes flutter close. “My twin brother. Please, just let me try to…”

“Five minutes,” the man finally relented, “That’s the final time for this.”

Sammy looked terrified. He swallowed thickly. “Leo, I need you to tell them.”

Leo was still trying to process the idea of being his grandfather’s twin brother. He looked up at him in a mixture of confusion and fright and said, “Tell them what? What?”

“Please stop stalling,” he begged, “I’ve lost everything, Leo, and I can’t lose you, too.”

“Her magics?” Leo asked. Sammy had a wife, apparently, and she was apparently practicing magic. The metaphorical legos in his mind clicked. “Hazel?”

“Yes, dammit!” He cried, “Are you losing your mind?!”

“I have to say that she’s a witch?”

“Leo, we need a testimony to burn her. It’s a new law,” Sammy’s breaths were rapid and untimely, his eyes were wide, and sweat dotted his skin, “I don’t want her dead, believe me, but you’re my brother before she’s my wife. And after what she did...”

“What happened to Jason and Piper?”

“They weren’t cooperating,” Sammy said. When the bound man nodded frantically and widened his eyes in a search for more information, he continued with, “They’re gone.”

“What’dya mean ‘they’re gone’?”

“I’ll tell you all about it after you confess to Hazel’s witchcraft,” he promised. He couldn’t see how else he would find out about his friends or even the mechanics of this world if he denied.

“Hazel’s a witch,” he announced as loudly as he could, for his voice was strained and his throat ached, “I’ve witnessed her… er… her hellish… uh… things.”

Sammy let out a long exhale of relief. The men in the room let their guard down too. His brother-grandfather-whatever began to untie the rope around his arms. When it was undone, he rubbed both of his wrists in turn before reaching into his pocket and pulling out Forky. Boy, was he glad to see that thing. His wrists were raw and red. Sammy slowly helped him off his knees as he stuffed Forky back in his pocket. When he was able to stand, albeit wobbly, he asked, “Jason and Piper?”

“They were given this same treatment.”

“Oh, damn. Are they alright?”

Sammy’s head was bowed slightly. “No.”

“What?” He’d said this world a lot in this universe.

“They’re… dead. They wouldn’t confess, and we know of their,” he looked around, as if telling some particularly scandalous gossip, “ _abilities_. So we had to…”

“You killed my best friends.”

“They weren’t your friends,” Sammy said as evenly as he could, “Just like Hazel isn’t my wife. When she’s sent back to where she came from, it’ll be for the better. It’s creatures like those that ruin people. Don’t you understand that?”

“How can you say that, don’t you love Hazel?” Leo asked as Sammy began to lead him out of the small chambers, up the stairs and into a wooden-built room instead. Sammy kept an arm around him until they were nearing the doorway and the other was more stable.

“I thought I loved her,” he corrected, “A serpent like her, a siren like her, was only playing my heart, Leo. Just like Jason and Piper played yours.” Leo trailed slightly behind Sammy as they made their way out into a town-square of sorts. There was a pin filled with cows, a few barns, and a couple of small houses alongside businesses like butchers and fabric shops. It looked very old. Not 1940s old, but 1740s old.

Other men left the building behind them, which Leo could now tell was a combination of stone, wood, and had barred windows.

“So… what? You’re leaving her?”

“What else can I do?” He tried to sound indifferent, but the sadness in his voice was apparent, “She and her consort gave up our children for her witchcraft.”

Leo looked over at Sammy in disbelief, but didn’t say anything.

“Your nieces were killed in the name of her Father, and you can still say I should stay with her?”

“That doesn’t sound like Hazel and you know it.”

“The blood’s on her hands, Leo,” Sammy voice faltered, cracked almost, as if he were going to cry. He wouldn’t blame the guy if he did, “I have nothing anymore. That’s why we have to do this. That why we had to kill the Graces. If we don’t take these measures… if we don’t take them then there will be more deaths of the innocent.”

Leo and Sammy took a path around the pin full of livestock. Leo’s mind was slowly turning away from hashing out his options for this world and listening to Sammy. The idea that Jason and Piper were dead floated numbly in his mind. They weren’t his. They weren’t _his_ friends. They were this version of himself’s friends. But Hazel…

He couldn’t see Hazel killing anyone. Ever. It was painful to think about. She was so small, innocent, sweet- she could probably hardly hurt a fly. Not to say she couldn’t tear someone a new one in battle, but murder? And of her own children?

“You know I’m sorry for your loss.”

“I know,” Sammy said.

“So… Hazel is dead?”

“Not yet. We’re going to burn her, to make sure she’s a witch. Even if she’s not, well, she’s already killed Esperanza and Rosa. She deserves to burn in life and in the afterlife.”

The coldness in which Sammy said it sent chills down his spine. The idea that here, in this world, he was his mother’s uncle was very strange to think about. And she was still dead here, too, go figure. “You’re going to be there?”

“I’m going to be the one kindling that fire until she’s but ashes,” his eyes narrowed, “she killed the joys of my life and she will pay for it,” he regained himself a moment, “You can be there, too. We’ve got a couple men up with me, but you’re my brother. Your support means the world. It’s a hard thing to do, but I’d like for you to be there. I suppose you’d want some time to see your wife before doing that, though?”

“My wife?”

“Calypso, lackbrain,” he rolled his eyes, “She’s been worrying herself into a fit.”

\----

Leo, in order to avoid the inevitability of saying he didn’t know where he lived, feigned weakness in order for Sammy to help him home. He lived in a nice enough play. Dark oak home with brick to touch it up. The garden was kept and they seemed to have a few animals of their own. He bid goodbye to Sammy and took a deep breath. If his wife was Calypso, and she was, then this would be his first time seeing her since he was alive, pretty much.

He opened the door and stepped inside casually and got no more than a millisecond of peace before he was ambushed by a flurry of fabric and cinnamon hair. Calypso grabbed his shoulders and stared at him Her dress was a cream color with floral patterns and lace finishings in the chest area and down the sides, but in the middle, like the floral part was a long shawl or something, it was a very light denim color. She looked very beautiful, even as a colonial woman.

“Leo, oh my god, you look terrible!” She looked him up and down and pulled one hand from his shoulder to cover her mouth. Her eyes were watering slightly. “Oh, you idiot!” She pulled him into a hug and buried her face into his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her hesitantly and hugged her tightly. She still smelled like sugar and spice and everything nice, even in this world. Was that creepy? Fuck it, whatever, seeing her was just so lovely he didn’t care.

She pulled back and managed a small laugh/cry thing. “I missed you so much. I heard about Jason and Piper, and I got so worried, I thought you’d never come back, and the Grace kids have been so much trouble and I just-,”

“Hey, hey,” Leo shushed her, “Grace kids?”

She froze up. “Oh… oh, Leo, I haven’t told you, have I? Surely you were wondering about Xavier and Victoria, haven’t you? Their parents were murdered in coldblood, Leo, I couldn’t just let the villagers leave them on the streets! And you know I can’t have kids so now we’ll finally have a few to raise. I hope you don’t mind, do you?”

“What? No… I just…” he shook his head, “I just need a moment. Where are the kids?”

“Well, I’ve set them up each a room in the spares. They’re with the Jackson kids right now.”

“Aren’t they upset about their parents?”

Calypso gave a faint shake of her head. “I don’t think so. At least, they don’t say anything. Something like that would be a death sentence for them. And they’re still so young, I don’t think they understand. I know you may think Jason and Piper didn’t do anything, but they were allied with Hazel and that consort of hers.”

“Speaking of-,”

“When’s her trial?” Calypso finished, “I’ve heard that it’s being put on tonight. Oh, would you like something to drink, dear?”

“Yeah, I appreciate it, love.”

Calypso smiled at the nickname, which made Leo’s heart sing, and bustled back into the kitchen. It was old, very old, but the house was homey and he liked it here an awful lot. Though he was trying to focus on the happy things, the bad things kept coming back. This him was now apparently father to Jason’s kids, his friends were deceased, and Hazel was about to be burnt to death. He took a deep breath.

“And her trial is tonight. I’m supposed to be helping with the kindling, so I’ll have to head out here in a bit.”

“Good for you, being with your brother like that. Can’t imagine what he’s going through, the poor man…”

He didn’t have Reyna’s, Hazel’s, or the apparent other world which he couldn’t place anyone on. Octavian? Calypso? Coach Hedge, even? Who knew. He was feeling a strong lenience towards this being Hazel’s, what with magic shit and death and Sammy and all, but he didn’t want to leave it. He knew he needed to hurry, but he felt so at home in this world. Maybe he’d go to the trial and then leave.

The trial.

Shit. No.

He wasn’t about to let Hazel burn to death at the stake. What about Frank? What was the dealio with them here? Who cared, he had to save Hazel. It wasn’t like he could die trying or anything. He owed her at least that. He had another glance at Calypso, who gave him all the more inspiration to do all of this (the world-hoping, that is), and called out.

“Hey, Calypso, I’m gonna run out real quick to gather firewood for the trial!”

“Oh, alright. But don’t they already have-,”

He sped out the door and slammed it behind him, finding a familiar place on the path that led into the woods. Sammy had informed him that the trials always took place following the western path. He knew the place when he saw it. A clearing bare of trees for yards with a concrete slab in the center, a pole sticking up from it, and a small brick shack to one side. He looked around and made sure the clearing was empty.

Surprise, surprise- it wasn’t. Two men hung around it. They were standing towards the trees, so Leo backed off into the shrubbery. He walked around behind trees and tried to make as little noise as possible. Whenever he did shuffle something the men didn’t even look up. He pressed his back to the brick shack and shuffled around until he was one the side. He felt like her was in a fucking Mission Impossible movie, and the theme song played in his head. He paused briefly when he heard a faint meowing from somewhere nearby, and he turned to look straight into the green eyes of a black cat.

The cat strode forwards, and with a flick of its tail, bounded over to the side of the shack next to him and pawed at a piece of wood. He made a quiet “nk-nkt” sound and pointed a finger gun at the cat.

He picked up a stray piece of wood from the ground, made sure the two men weren’t looking in his direction, then lit it on fire and threw it into the woodland area beside them. It lit up some bushes that startled them and caused them to go put out the fire. He hurriedly snuck to the front, melted off the metal lock on the door, and let himself and the cat inside before closing the door inconspicuously.

“Sammy?” Croaked a weak voice, and as he turned around, he saw Hazel. In rags, hands chained up with cuffs bolted to the wall, and feet handled the same way. She looked pathetic, beaten and bloody, and stared up at Leo in desperation. Her vision trailed downwards to the cat, who lept up on top of her and nuzzled her affectionately.

“No,” he said, “It’s me. Leo.”

“Oh,” she said, tossing her head back against the wall, “are you here to kill me?”

“They’re going to burn you,” he said lamely.

“Yep,” she affirmed. The cat took a protective stance in front of her, “And Frank, too.”

“Frank?”

“My cat,” she said, raising her thigh slightly so the animal bounced, “And partner.”

So Frank was in cat form right now. Who would’ve known? The cat did look like the guy in an odd way, and he hissed at Leo when he stayed unresponsive for a few moments. “I’ll help you escape,” he said.

Her eyes snapped opened, and she stared at him incredulously. Even the cat recoiled sharply. “What?”

“I’ll help you get out.”

“No, you can’t do that, it’s suicide,” she insisted.

“I just need to help you,” he said, then quickly added, “I couldn’t save Jason and Piper, let me save you and Frank.”

The cat meowed. Hazel groaned. “I know, Frank. What’s taking a chance? We’re gonna die anyways.”

Frank mewed, obviously agitated, and Hazel looked up at Leo. “We’re in agreement. Do you have a key””

Disregarding her apparent ability to hold conversations with her cat, Leo told her. “Nope, something easier.”

He knelt beside Hazel and made sure to engulf his pointer finger in flame to show Hazel his plan. The cat flew right off her lap and stood nearer the door as Leo started to smelt through the chains. The cuffs were still on her wrists and ankles, but she could stand. Leo helped her up, and she clenched both hands at her side for a good couple moments. She murmured something, and immediately, the bruises and cuts began to heal up until she was completely fine-looking. She peered out the small little hatch in the metal door to the shed before she looked back at Leo. “Stay here. They’ll come after me. Run when they’ve all left.”

Hazel thrust her palms forward and burst the door right off it’s hinges, along with sending her cuffs flying, scaring the men that had been gathering firewood under a darkening sky. Leo could see Frank grow from a puny cat into the man he was, and he took that as his leave to murmur “Hazel” under his breath and fade from this reality. 


	9. Of Typewriters and Demons and Burlesque Parlors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *rose from titanic voice* it's been...... 84 years.......  
> i apologize.  
> [here](http://luciferslittlekitten.tumblr.com/) is my tumblr   
> check it out if you want to send me anon hate for not updating for like 7 years ahahHAHA

The void was only brief. He wasn’t in darkness for long.

Leo felt himself against hard ground faster than he’d been previously. Was it because he was almost done? This was the last one, right? He didn’t want to get up, the thought was tantalizing. He didn’t know what he lay against, but he didn’t care. It was solid and horizontal, and that was good enough for him. He cracked open an eye. It looked like he was on a flooring. Not a good flooring either. Concrete. The ground was semi-damp and he could hear the squeaking and scrambling of a rat. He made pace to sit up then.

He was in an alleyway. Of course, alleyways were foreign at all to him. He had been homeless, but rats still grossed him the fuck out. He ran his hands through his hair. You got this, Valdez.

He stepped out of the alley. The sky was dark, and even though he was obviously in a city, he could see a few rare stars. He looked down either sidewalk, furrowing his brows as he did. There were cars. Old cars. They looked ancient, like the ones in those old 40s detective movies.

Was he in the forties again?

He heard a few faint yells, then one that grew louder as two figures ran, giggling and talking in big voices, into a building across the street. The building seemed alive even though the outside of it was dead. His gaze flicked up to the glowing light-up sign on the front part that stuck out a bit over the pavement. _Burlesque._

He… guessed he knew what Burlesque was?

He’d always assumed it was like an old-time strip club. They seemed to be a lot classier, though, since most of the strips clubs he’d seen were trashy and littered with prostitutes. He hadn’t been to any as a customer, but he’d walked past them and stuff. Strolling along in the ghetto as he often did,

He glanced behind himself. The alley was fenced off in the other direction, so he guessed this was what he was supposed to do. Taking a deep breath, he crossed the street. It was strangely empty for this time of night in a city.

There wasn’t a bouncer at the front entrance. He looked around once more before letting himself in. He was immediately hit with the smell of alcohol and sweat. It smelled ten times better than a strip club, but he didn’t care. It also felt very perfumey. The foyer looked like the entrance to an actual house, almost, with two granite pillars half-set into the walls of an arched entrance. There was an open coat closet and a hat rack, and the floor in the foyer was white tile until it switched to dark hardwood.

 _Burlesque parlors are weird_ , he mused to himself as he kept on his way. He heard the gentle thumping of music from the end of the hall he walked through, which was lined with door after door. The wallpaper was a dark red with a brocade design. That, coupled with the dark flooring and dim lighting, made the place look really… what, passionate? Leo didn’t really know how to describe it.

He continued to walk down the halls before he heard a woman exclaim, “There you are, asshole!”

He felt someone tug his wrist down a dark hallway, and he couldn’t deny that he flipped a little. Before he knew what was going on, he felt lips against his own and he felt his hands flail uselessly at the sides of the stranger. She was still backing up as she smushed his face with her hands and _whoah_ there was tongue.

She broke the kiss eventually, but grabbed his hand and led him along the hall. “I’ve been waiting for you since ever! Didn’t you say you were going out to help Nico with his whatever?”

“Uh…” Leo said intelligently, letting himself be dragged along.

“Oh, whatever, come on.”

The lady led him into one of the rooms, and the light was so staggering when she opened the door that Leo actually had to blink a couple of times to get adjusted to it.

In the light, he could see the cinnamon-colored hair pinned up with a silver flower barrette and the ringlets of curls that had fallen from their place.

It was Calypso.

“Jason!” she called out, and her voice sounded different in a way Leo couldn’t place, “Leo’s finally back.”

Jason was facing away from them on the other side of the room, sitting at a desk, tapping at what looked like a typewriter, and drinking straight from a bottle of whiskey. He could’ve looked better.

“Uh… Jason?” Leo asked. Jason didn’t say anything and Leo turned to look over at Calypso, ask for help or what he was needed for, and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.

Oh, wow, he looked old. He was tall, though still not conventionally buff or ripped, and his arms were more muscular. He was sporting a five o’clock shadow, even. Had he looked like this in the last world? It only made sense that he had, since Sammy had looked much older than him, and being fifteen would’ve set him off.

Strange thing was, when Leo glanced down at himself, he didn’t look any different than he normally did. His arms were still noodles and he couldn’t feel any stubble along his chin.

“Jason,” Calypso called out again, “C’mon, brother.”

Jason sighed and he heard the typewriter chime. He looked back at Leo and Calypso, twisting around in his chair so he could stare at him. “I’m busy.”

Calypso rolled her eyes. “You’re always busy with that damn thing and you never get anything done.”

Jason huffed something incoherent at her and turned back to the typewriter. The sounds it made as Jason’s fingers flew across the keys were oddly relaxing.

“What’cha writing?” Leo ventured.

“Just about the case…” Jason murmured, fingers still clacking on the keyboard before he paused and it chimed again.

“We haven’t even _finished_ the case yet, Grace,” Calypso crossed her arms over her chest.

“We’re about to be done with it. As soon as Thalia gets back with her information. We know who to kill,” Jason stopped to take a swig of whiskey, “We just don’t know how to kill ‘em.”

“You’re going to get arrested for having that,” Calypso nodded at the bottle, “That bootleg stuff’s gonna kill you some day.”

“A man needs a drink, Cal.”

Leo snorted, which caused Calypso’s eyes to come to rest on him. Feeling her gaze on him made him feel like he was required to say something. “So when’s Thalia getting back?”

“Soon, hopefully,” Jason told him, cracking his fingers before starting to write some more, “She said she can make it back tonight, maybe. Also, change of plans." 

"Change of plans?" Calypso asked, sounded very unamused. 

"Yeah..." Jason coughed, "About Piper. She made me promise to stay with her until later notice.”

“Stay with her?” Leo questioned, raising an eyebrow, “Why?”

“She wants me to protect her,” he said, “You know that a powerful demon can come back in a matter of days. Just for a week or so I'm going to hang back.”

“Just a week?” Calypso repeated incredulously, “Jason, we haven’t got time to dilly dally around these parts. The case is solved. We’ve got our culprits. We need to keep going. I though an exorcism would be enough.”

“We don’t know for sure about exorcisms, but I’m sure someone else can handle things elsewhere if we slack off for a week or so. If we mess up on exterminating these bastards, they might be impossible to catch again,” he rolled his shoulders, “Besides, you two can go off without me. You can handle things, right?”

“But what about your novel?” Calypso asked, “How are you gonna write that from here?”

“I can just add something into the story real quick,” Jason said, “Make a plotline of staying with Piper. Or Anna. Same difference.”

“So you’re gonna make up some bull about Percy staying with Annabeth and leaving Frank and Hazel to go hunt by themselves?”

Leo blinked. _What?_

“They’re my characters, Cal, I can make them do whatever I want,” Jason spun around in his chair, “Besides, it’d make sense! I’ve gotta develop the romance between Percy and Annabeth anyways.”

Calypso shook her head. “Well, I’ve never heard a more eloquent excuse to screw a gal.”

“Why don’t you just write about Percy and Annabeth’s romance while we’re away?” Leo offered, though he was still confused. Percy and Annabeth were book characters? Jason was writing a self-insert story in which he was Percy and Piper was Annabeth? And, by this knowledge, was _he_ Frank?

“Leo, it’s different. I gotta experience things to write about ‘em. You know that.”

“God, Jason,” Calypso said, exasperated, “Look, I’m happy that you’re a writer. I’m glad that you’ve found a muse in yourself and your friends, but you’re being a little ridiculous.”

“Yeah…” Leo rubbed the back of his neck, “You can’t experience everything you want to put onto paper.”

Calypso gave Leo a “thank you” glance and placed a hand on his shoulder. They looked like a pair of concerned parents.

“I’m not being ridiculous!” Jason shot back, standing up from his chair, “Look, I’m a serious novelist here, Cal, and I take my writing very seriously!”

“You just used the same word twice in once sentence, idiot,” she said.

“That doesn’t make me any less serious!”

“Boom. There you go again.

Jason groaned. “Look, look, I’m very invested in this story, and I need to finish it. Besides, the two of you have been on my ass about finishing it since forever.”

Calypso narrowed her eyes and stepped forward. “Oh, yeah?” she inquired, “Well, if you’re so ‘invested’ in this story,” she got up right in front of Jason, “then why don’t you ever sit down,” she stabbed a manicured finger at his chest, “shut up,” her voice dropped to a whisper and Jason took a step backwards, “and actually _write it_ ,” Jason fell back into his chair and she towered above him and stared him down.

“Okay! I’m writing it now!”

“How long has it been since you’ve seriously written, Jason? You’ve taken note after note and you’ve told us exactly what you wanted to write about but you’ve never actually written it. When did you finish the last chapter of the Percy Jackson series, might I ask?”

Jason coughed. “Like, three months ago.”

Calypso turned on her heel and stalked to the other side of the room, and stopped but didn’t turn around when she’d gotten to Leo’s side. “That’s what I thought. I’m going to go out for a smoke. When I come back, if you’re even still thinking about staying here with McLean, we’re gonna have a problem.” She leaned over to kiss Leo on the cheek, and then she was pushing out the door.

“Wait!” Jason called, and Calypso turned around with an eyebrow raised.

“What?”

Leo felt like he wasn’t even there. The tension between Jason and Calypso was that serious.

“What if she came with us?”

“Would Rich Girl be willing to do it?”

“I could ask. Besides, it’d be a way to keep her safe if the succubus could ever pull herself out of the pit. She’d be murderous.”

“Hmph,” Calypso hummed, “I suppose it couldn’t hurt. I can’t believe that succubus was stupid enough to latch herself onto a hunter.”

Succubus? That sounded like the most unappealing name to be given. Ever. It reminded him of “succulent” and “succ”, one of which was an uncomfortable word and the other of which was a meme.

Calypso was leaning against the door frame. “Well, she’s gonna have to pull her own weight. Teach her to shoot if she’s tagging along. Also, keep the bank closed.”

She winked at him and his face reddened. “We’re not going to-,”

“Leo,” she said as if this had just crossed her mind, “wanna grab a smoke?” She beckoned him with his finger. This Calypso (any Calypso, he supposed, now that it crossed his mind) could play him like a puppeteer. He hadn’t ever smoked, but with the ability to light up any time he wanted, he’d always thought that maybe it couldn’t be that bad of a habit to have. Even though it would probably give him lung cancer, it might make him look like more of a ‘bad boy’.

The pros outweighed the cons in his opinion. Plus, it’d only be one smoke. He gave a little wave to Jason and followed Calypso out of the room.

She slowed down so she could take his hand and walk by his side. “I’m scared for Jacey.”

“Why so?”

She sighed and shook her head. “I dunno. He’s become so invested in his writing, and now that he’s obsessed with McLean… You know what something like that calls for in our business.”

“It’s probably just a crush,” Leo said because he wasn’t sure what “business” they were talking about since the conversation in the other room had been about Jason’s novel and killing demons.

“Well, he’d better put out that torch sooner than later. I just,” she broke off and then retried, “I don’t want him to get his heart broken again.”

“He’ll be alright.”

“No, he won’t. I can tell. Piper might be good to him, but you know how long relationships last for people like us,” She gave his hand a squeeze, “We’re just a special case.”

So he was dating Calypso. This was his second time seeing her since he’d entered the multiverse or whatever, and she looked a lot different. Colonial Calypso was a sweetheart housewife. This Calypso was a babe with dark red lipstick a matriarchal aura. But they both seemed like Calypso. It was a weird thing to be considering. It was as if the universes were splitting up her personality into fractions and making completely different people out of each piece.

That went for nearly everyone, he realized. The universes weren’t pulling this variation of his friends out of their asses, they were just bringing forth and pushing back personally traits that were already there.

He’d pretty much already realized this, but it was really just processing now. Why? He wasn’t sure. Maybe it was just because of lazy planning on the part of the goddess amongst him.

Damn Atë.

So, who was left? Reyna, maybe. Or Calypso. Would Coach have a world? Probably not. “I guess so,” he said because he realized he’d been quiet for a little too long.

“But Jason doesn’t have a girl like you’ve got me, love,” she let herself smile for a moment, and Leo thought it looked gorgeous, but then it faltered, “I don’t think that’s fair on him, but it’s still the facts. He’s immersing himself in that book so much, I’m starting to think it’s his way of expressing his emotions.”

“...Right,” Leo said, “Now, about that smoke-,”

“Leo!” she let go of his hand and punched him in the shoulder, “He’s your best friend, you know, the least you could do is show some concern!”

“Calypso, I _am_ concerned,” he assured, “but this is something we can’t force Jason to work through. I know him.”

Her expression softened. “I’m sorry. I know you’ve known him for longer, but I can’t help but worry about him…” she let out a small sigh, “I guess it’s just my protectiveness kicking in.”

“Hmm. Well, you do have an issue with that,” she gasped in mock offense and shoved him lightly. He laughed. It felt good to joke around with Calypso, even if it wasn’t really her.

Even though it was kinda her.

Shit was confusing.

“Did you even really want to smoke?” Leo asked her.

“No,” she admitted, “I just wanted an excuse to leave dramatically.”

Leo laughed again. That seemed very Calypso, in an obscure way. “Well, it worked. You sure gave Jason something to think about.”

She made a little noise of pity. “I love him, you know, but he’s such an idiot sometimes. I like Piper, too, kind of!”

Leo heard a tone in her voice that implied she was upright lying about liking Piper, but he let it slide.

“The thing is… I think he’s set on becoming Percy sometimes, Leo,” she shrugged, “I know that Percy is based on himself, but Percy is also everything he wants to be, you know? Like how he portrays us as Frank and Hazel. He’s idealizing us because he thinks that we’re flawed.”

Leo stopped a second to actually think about Percy and Hazel and Frank and even Annabeth. They weren’t not flawed, but they were…

Oh, how do you say, just different.

Jason comparatively to Percy… Percy and Annabeth went back years and years, and though he’d never really thought about how Jason could be jealous of that compared to his and Piper’s relationship, that could be something, right?

This wasn’t Jason’s universe, though. Nor Piper’s.

It could be Calypso’s, and maybe that would explain her badassery and relationship with himself.

He didn't know for sure, though. 

Jason wasn’t Percy. Sure, he’d heard mutterings at Camp about how Jason was just a blond carbon copy of the Jackson kid, but he wasn’t. He was his own person with his own tragic backstory and own set of accomplishments.

Also, Frank was just a hyped up version of him? That felt insulting, in a way.

This world was the most confusing shit yet. It felt strangely meta. Who thought Percy > Jason, Annabeth > Piper, Hazel > Calypso, and Frank > Leo? Calypso wouldn’t. Probably. Reyna..? Then again, wouldn’t Reyna value Jason over Percy at the very least?

They were walking along some back corridor, and Calypso was still blabbing. His thoughts were cut off and so was Calypso’s voice when the sound of a separate pair of footsteps echoed in the hall.

Calypso paused immediately and turned around. There was a woman there, wearing her dark hair in a braid and a black floor-length gown.

“Fancy seeing you here,” said the woman, and she took a few steps forward. Leo backed up instinctively, put Calypso grabbed his shoulder to get him to stay in place.

“What are you doing here?” Calypso asked, “I thought you were performing.”

“Change of plans,” she informed them, “Piper’s taking over for me tonight. She’s got a knack for bringing in the big buyers who want a glimpse of Tristan McLean’s girl.”

Calypso narrowed her eyes. “She’s not in it for the attention.”

“No?” The woman raised an eyebrow. She was walking towards them now, “Then for what? She’s already got all the money she could ask for.”

She stopped a few feet in front of the two of them. Leo blinked to make sure he was seeing things correctly. It was Reyna. Sure, she was aged. She looked a lot hotter than Leo had ever really processed before. Jesus, was this entire plot of him traveling through these universes just trying to get him to become attracted to every female friend of his?

And Nico, sorta.

That wasn’t a thought he wanted to think.

Calypso didn’t have an answer for Reyna. “What do you want?”

“You know what I want,” she said, “I want you to break the seal.”

“No way in hell,” Calypso nearly snarled, “You’re not touching him.”

Leo had a hankering she wasn’t talking about him.

“You can’t keep him away when I’ve already claimed him as mine,” Reyna took a menacing step forward, “When he leaves that room, I’ll strike.”

“He won’t leave.”

“Not even for McLean?”

Calypso looked a little taken aback. “What did you do?”

“Not me so much as what my colleague did, dear,” Reyna cocked her head, “What’s wrong? You don’t sound so confident now that I’m masterminding this.”

“Leo, go find Jason,” She pushed him to the side, and pulled a knife out of visually nowhere. Maybe it was a girl thing.

Reyna laughed condescendingly. “You’re going to fight me with that pitiful thing?” She put a hand on her hip. “That’s cute. But I’m afraid you’re already too late. If Octavian listens to me as well as he listened to his old master, he’ll already have them both taken care of.”

Leo was frozen, but Calypso looked at him and shouted, “Leo, now!” before she sprung at Reyna and ripped a line down the front of her dress.

“You’ve done it now, Nightshade!” Reyna growled. He felt his feet start to work, and he ran when he saw fangs start to grow from Reyna’s top jaw and her fingernails sharpen to claws.

Apparently Reyna didn’t see him as a chink in the plan because she let him bolt down the corridor with all of her focus still directed on Calypso. Leo ran down the hall he and Calypso had walked and talked down, and when he got to the room Jason had been in, he opened the door and slammed it behind himself.

Where was Jason? The bottle of whiskey was broken and spilled all over the floor. He ran over to the typewriter and haphazardly pulled out the paper Jason had been typing on. He wrote what he did, right? His eyes skimmed over the page until he’d gotten to after Calypso (Hazel) had left.

_Frank followed her_

Yadda, yadda.

_He sat down and_

Whatever, yeah…

_Percy didn’t look back at the door, but he’d heard Frank close it. He knew Annabeth was requesting him to see her perform front and center stage tonight, but that was something Hazel wouldn’t allow in a million years. He didn’t really care, though, not when a doll like Annabeth was counting on him to make her night. He was supposed to meet her in the back after she gave her all on the stage._

He’d gone to see Piper, the idiot.

He dropped the paper and made his way out of the side hall, back into the main corridor, and followed it. He didn’t want _any_ version of Jason or Piper to die.

So, Reyna was evil. He was a demon hunter. Jason was an author, and Calypso looked hot when she fought. What did this have in common, he wasn’t sure.

He pushed into the room that was set off with fancy doors, and lo and behold, scantily clad women were performing on stage. He made his way around the dim-lit room to the door left of the stage labeled “backstage.”

There wasn’t a guard, which was a bit unsafe, but he didn’t let it phase him. When he pushed through the door, he was met with an even darker room. He could still hear the sound of the upbeat music the girls had been dancing to.

And he saw Jason and Piper, gagged and roped to chairs. Also a blond man in a black suit with and gun lazily aimed at Piper’s head.

Apparently this blond man had two guns because he aimed a second one at Leo while still keeping on at Piper’s skull. “Stay still or I’ll shoot.”

Leo had no plan, no strategy, and no idea what the fuck to do. _Smart, Valdez. Good job._

“Hey,” he laughed nervously, “Octavian, buddy-,”

“I’m not your buddy,” he replied, stone-faced and cold voiced.

“Yeah, hey, look, man, I know you’re friends with Reyna right now, but maybe you could drop your weapons while we talk, all in good sportsmanship.”

Leo saw Octavian’s arm lock up and his hold on the gun tighten. “Is… that an order?”

Leo blinked. “Uh. Yes?”

Octavian let both arms fall so both guns were pointed at the ground. “Your command is overriding Reyna’s, I…” he furrowed his brow, “I’m at your service, sir.”

“Uh…” Leo drawled again, “Untie my friends?”

Octavian dropped the guns completely and undid Piper bindings, then Jason’s. Piper ripped the cloth from her mouth and sighed deeply in relief, rubbing at the spot where Octavian had pressed the gun.

That was a little too easy. He didn’t handle things as badassily as he wanted to.

“What did you do?” Jason asked him, looking back at Octavian, “he’s under our control now?”

Leo shrugged helplessly. “I guess?”

Piper looked at Jason as if seeking an explanation. "You have to do whatever Leo says now?" 

Octavian carded a hand through his hair. “As… an incubus, I’m submissive to all those who can find a way to stake power over me. However, I’m not supposed to be able to be claimed by someone unless my previous master-,”

There was the clacking of heels on the wooden floor and then Calypso appeared, bloody and ragged and looking tired and holding a knife at her side. “I took care of Reyna,” she lifted up a silver chain, “and stole her necklace because it was cute.”

Leo stared at Calypso in disbelief. 

Jason was obviously surprised too. "You killed Reyna? She's one of the most powerful demons to walk the earth in recent knowledge. How did you-," 

"The important thing is that, I did, alright?" Calypso cut him off sharply. Leo figured that perhaps she was covering something up, but he didn't wanna ask. He realized that this demon hunter life wasn't quite for him, and he really didn't wanna stick around with and OP Calypso and a subby Octavian. 

“Oh,” Octavian said softly, “well, then I suppose that since the succubus is no longer walking the earth, then that means you’re my new master.”

That sounded kinkier than it needed to sound. Octavian was staring at him with wide, expectant eyes, and Leo could only stare back at him. Octavian was so different, he looked so weak and willing, and Leo felt strange in his presence.

Who would imagine Octavian in such a way? Who would imagine Jason as an alcoholic author and Percy Jackson as his glorified self in a novel? Who would see Calypso as a badass and Piper as a damsel in distress?

Who the hell saw Reyna as a demon? Or apparently a succubus in particular?

There were four pairs of eyes on him. He had to think fast, he hated awkward situations a lot.

Maybe this was Calypso’s world.

Since Calypso was practically cursed to forever be a damsel in distress, it might make sense for her to be a hot and dangerous demon hunter in her own world, and the girl might demonize Reyna from the time she’d chalked her up to be Leo’s girlfriend.

It might explain how she was so close with Jason if she really wanted to be an integral part of Leo’s life, and so inserted herself to a sisterly manner to him. Even the way she disassociated Annabeth, Frank, and Hazel with real life and acquainted them with fictional characters could explain the way she didn’t really know them. And the way Percy was a fictional character could show for her “not caring about him”, so to speak.

“Master?” Octavian’s small voice broke him out of his thoughts. He coughed and muttered her name under his breath.

Well, thank god that worked, because the situation was already hella awkward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me @ me: yasss drag her


	10. Of Saltwater and Pirates and Messy Braids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey that's pretty good ((;   
> here's anew chapter (fuckin finally ammiright)   
> anyways, the next chapter will be up as soon as this fic reaches 3000 hits. as soon or as far away as that may be, the next chapter will be up the very second it happens. 
> 
> [here's my personal blog](http://luciferslittlekitten.tumblr.com/)   
>  [here's my writing blog](http://gods--among--us.tumblr.com/)

Leo smelled the world before he saw it.

It was salty and crisp, and, having been leading a crew on a flying ship, he instantly recognized the smell of the ocean. And booze. It reeked of alcohol. He could see it all, then. Dark oak wood and peeling wallpaper, like a shittier version of the Burlesque parlor. He could hear voices emitting from a nearby room. He would have to put on stealth mode.

 _This is the last world,_ he reminded himself, _you’ve got this._

He gripped onto Forky, perhaps for more reassurance or just to regain his composure, and took a step forward. The floorboard beneath him creaked obnoxiously loud and the voices in the other room stopped instantly.

_Well._

_Shit._

“Nico?” called a female voice, “you can come out here for a drink if you’d like, love.”

Leo glanced at the hallway behind himself before setting his sights ahead and starting forward.

There were three pairs of eyes on him when he got into the main room. A bar, he guessed, which would explain the overpowering aroma of alcohol. The lady was behind the bar, Piper, he guessed, dark beachwavey hair spilling over her shoulders and questioning eyes trained on him. Her breasts were almost popping out of her top, something that looked sort of like a corset over a low-cut white undershirt trimmed with frills or something.

The two men that sat at the bar, one seat apart, were who he could only guess were him and Jason. They both looked to be drinking and dressed down, both sporting similar outfits of dirty white undershirts, work pants, and heavy boots.

Jason stepped up as unsheathed some sort of sword as Leo came into view, Other Leo not taking his out but readying himself. Piper laid hands on either of their shoulders and they shared a collective look. Leo took a cautious step forward.

“He’s just a kid, sit down,” she told them when he had gotten close enough, and Jason reluctantly sheathed his sword as Other Leo relaxed, though the two of them shared a glance.

“Ummm…” Leo started intelligently, “Hello?”

“Are you looking for someone, dear?” she inquired, leaning over the bar in a way that made Leo unsure if she was intentionally showing off her, well… personalities.

“Sorry, not really, I’m…” Piper was the only one of the three people staring at him that actually looked approachable. He cleared his throat, “Yes.”

“Who then, love?” she pressed and he blinked a few times.

“I think someone sent him,” Jason chimed in, taking a sip from his mug of what looked to be beer and glaring at Leo critically, “Jackson’s been making an awful lot of threats lately.” Other Leo made a show of tapping the handle of his sheathed blade.

“Oh, hush it,” Piper hissed and swatted at Jason, who set his drink back on the bar with a murmured “alright, fine.”

Before he was forced to answer a question he didn’t know how to, the door swung open. Eyes were off him them, to his great relief. The person who had stepped through the door was tall. She looked similar to Piper, but much less frilly, and much less contained with a corset. Her worn and dull red overcoat fell just past her hips, buttoned from her stomach up, and she wore fading black pants with heavy boots. Her sword was hanging unceremoniously from a hip holster. She took off her hat, and carded a hand through her hair, further messing an already messy braid.

Reyna.

It gave Leo great suspicions of whose world this was, but he feared Atë wasn’t about to cut him any more slack on guesses. He’d have to wait until he was absolutely sure.

Or at least slightly more sure.

The room was silent, save for the steps that Reyna took. She sat at the bar a few seats down from Other him and Jason.

Piper made her way over to where she sat, and asked, “Can I get you something?”

“Whatever it is that blondie’s having,” Reyna requested, gesturing carelessly to the pair of men further down the bar.

“So you’re real, huh?” Other Leo asked. It was strange, almost, how fast the focus shifted off him. He stepped aside a little.

“About as real as anything else,” she said, “I thought your crew raped and pillaged enough, is it really in your best interest to be stopping at whore house?”

Piper didn’t say anything, but she looked visibly stiff and resentful when she sat Reyna’s drink down. Reyna took a sip, obviously waiting for some kind of retaliation. Leo knew he wasn’t invisible, but he might as well have been. He swayed, slightly bored if anything, but he froze when he caught Jason staring at him. He looked back at Reyna and spoke.

“You say that like you’re not one of us,” Jason’s voice was calm, like the calm before the storm.

“Oh, I never said I wasn’t,” she told him, “but I know how you men get on ships. I put up with them, you know.”

“They put up with you, more like,” Other Leo snorted, “No self-respecting man would let a woman captain their ship.”

Well, that was sexist. What year was it anyways? What year were pirates around in?

“Oh, please, you two might as well let one captain yours,” she rolled her eyes, “Barmaid, switch of drink if I may ask it of you. Give me what the other one is having.”

As soon as Piper stepped over to fulfill her request, Reyna had hiked up her already cut-short skirts to pull a small blade holstered on her thigh to hold it at Piper’s throat, her other hand grabbing a fistful of her hair to hold her in place. Jason and Other Leo were on their feet, weapons drawn, before Leo even knew what had happened. He straightened up a little, surprised.

“What the hell are you doing?” Jason demanded, “Let her go!”

“What was that about not having women captain your ships?” she asked, voice tinged with a laugh, “I might as well have the two of you by your bollocks. She controls you. Perhaps she’s not giving orders, but she’s certainly the thing you value and protect most. Just like a captain. And she’s but a whore, isn’t she?” She pulled the knife back and Piper’s hand immediately went to her throat, eyes wide as she staggered back.

“What is stopping us from killing you right now?” Other Leo growled.

“My crew will wipe yours out in seconds,” she re-sheathed the blade on her thigh.

“I don’t really believe that.”

“Do you want to test it?” she asked, but before she got an answer, she was staring across the room at Leo, scoping him out, “Well, who is that fine young man?”

“We’re not sure,” Piper answered, a frightened tone in her voice as she stepped away from Reyna, “He was looking for someone.”

“Hmm. Who?”

Leo panicked and didn’t know what to say. For whatever reason, though, Reyna covered for him.

“You could not possibly be Eliza’s, could you?”

He found himself nodding for some reason or another.

“Perfect. Well, then, I think I’ll be taking him with me.”

Reyna pulled a couple of dollars from her coat pocket, beckoning Piper over, who came nervously. “I’m sorry for scaring you, darling,” Reyna told her gently, “Take the extra, please. I’ll make sure my men know that our enemies ladies are not our enemies.”

Then she leaned over the bar to leave a quick kiss on Piper’s cheek. Piper counted the money she’d been given, bringing a hand up to her cheek and staring at Reyna in disbelief.

“So it’s true what they say about you and women?” Other Leo asked as Reyna turned her book, motioning for Leo to follow.

She didn’t respond or even turn around. She only said, “Good afternoon, gentlemen,” and walked out. Leo spared a last glance at the trio before rushing after Reyna.

The streetlife he was greeted with was a port city, it seemed, and he could see the ocean past the boardwalk. He found his place at Reyna’s side and coughed to get her attention. She looked down and over at him with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t know Eliza.”

“I know,” she told him, “But you know me.”

“I do, don’t I?” he murmured, “Thank you for that.”

She shrugged. “You can go whenever you’d like.”

“How do you know-?”

She shook her head, effectively cutting him off. “That’s for me to know and you to wonder about. Let us just say that I happen to know a girl who has quite the psychic eye, and I’ve been told that doing this will give me good karma.”

“Hazel,” he guessed, and she laughed.

“Well, maybe there’s more than one psychic around these parts, huh?”

He stopped suddenly, and she didn’t even hesitate. Reyna just kept walking. He called another quick ‘thank you!’ after her before murmuring her name under his breath.

_He was done._


	11. Of Joy and Romance and Crossed-Out Characters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one more chapter to go!  
> thank you all for 3000 hits!!
> 
> [here's my personal blog](http://luciferslittlekitten.tumblr.com/)  
> [here's my writing blog](http://gods--among--us.tumblr.com/)

It was like an out-of-body experience. It was like his brain was being shifted to some other being. He noticed Festus reflecting the sunlight, he noticed the crowd of people surrounding him and his friends in front of him. He looked to his left.

Calypso.

He felt happiness like he’d never felt before. He was back home. He was here, at camp, with all his friends, and first and foremost, his girlfriend. He could scarcely believe it. He couldn’t believe he’d done it.

Calypso looked right back at him, smiling, and leaned in for a kiss. He closed his eyes, expecting lips to be on his… but it never came. He opened them again, confused, and stepped back.

Calypso wasn’t kissing him. That was so obviously not him it would be idiotic to try and say otherwise.

That was Octavian.

Calypso was kissing Octavian.

He staggered back, legitimately feeling sick to his stomach. What was going on? Calypso and Octavian of all people? Of all people, Octavian? Asshole Supreme?  
The camp looked like it’d just suffered a war, obviously, but the Greeks and Romans stood united. Calypso and Octavian were crowded by people in both orange and purple.

This wasn’t right. Where was he?

He back up, then fell, and suddenly must’ve materialized, because he fell back and someone looked down at him. Blond hair, blue eyes- Jason. He held a hand that Leo took gratefully and pulled himself up.

“Thanks. Hey, uh, you know what’s going on?” Leo asked breathily. Jason looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

“Dude. Calypso just got saved from Ogygia by Octavian.”

“Kind of out of her league, don’t you think?”

Jason laughed. “Yeah, well, maybe. But Octavian’s my best friend I’m happy that he’s happy.”

_Octavian’s my best friend._

It stung, perhaps more than it should’ve. Where was he? Was he home? Had Octavian saved her instead?

“What’s your name anyways?” Jason asked, sticking out a hand, “I’m Jason Grace.”

“So I’ve heard,” Leo murmured, “I’m, uh, Leo Valdez.”

“You have a cool last name. Hispanic?”

“Mexican,” Leo nodded, “So, uh, I’m gonna…”

“Oh, of course, man,” Jason waved him off, “We should hang sometime. You seem cool enough. See you around.”

Leo gave him a parting nod and pushed through the crowd, ignoring cries of indignation. Why had Octavian had Festus? Who had found the bunker? Why hadn’t Jason known him?

He stopped. He glanced back at the crowd and then back in front of him. He was near the camp entrance. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Count to ten, he told himself.

He got to seven before he someone asked him. “You okay? Anxiety attack?”

Leo whipped around to see Nico and Will Solace. Nico was wearing an anime shirt for something called “Hetalia” and jean capri shorts. There weren’t bags under his eyes, his hair was messy but trimmed, and he was olive-skinned and healthy looking. Will looked as usual, and cocked his head slightly, “Bad with crowds?”

“Yeah- I- uh,” he stuttered. Whose world was this? This obviously wasn’t his, so where was he?”

“My sister’s bad with crowds too,” Nico spoke up. His sister. Bianca. He used present tense. _She was alive._

“It’s common,” Will nods.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met you!” Nico chirped, and he sounded the same but he didn’t sound like Leo’s Nico did, where he did the Bat-Man thing to make his voice sound lower, “I’m Nico di Angelo, and this is Will Solace!”

“Yeah, uh, hi,” he choked out, “Leo.”

“Do you need to lay down?” Will asked him, concern in his voice, and Leo shook his head with a laugh.

“Nah, I’m okay- I’m just- Gotta- Yep,” and then he spun on his heel and ran off.

There was a voice in his head then. It sounded distorted and inhumane.

_See how much better off everyone is without you?_

It wasn’t real. This was just an alternate reality.

He kept walking. Away from the crowd, away from Nico and Will. Where was he? He needed to get back.

He saw happiness at every turn. He went towards the Lake and saw Percy and Annabeth sitting on the shore, he saw Jason and Piper laughing together, he saw Hazel and Frank sharing a marshmallow, and Reyna and Thalia playing Hot Plate. Once, when Reyna held out her hands for Thalia to slap, she ended up grabbing them and holding them instead, then she wriggled her eyebrows and Reyna had laughed.

_Where was he?_

He saw Calypso and Octavian most of all, doing couple-y things. They seemed to be friends with Nico and Will because they were together for most of the night.

He seemed to be fading in and out of the other camper’s eyes. He could be seen sometimes here, and unseen others. He’d been walking around all day. Eventually, he was forced to come to the conclusion he’d been trying to avoid making.

_Everyone was happier without him._

He saw Bianca with Thalia and the other Hunters in passing and he knew that’s why Nico was not quite so brooding. He figured out that he, nor Percy and Annabeth, had fallen into Tartarus. He figured out that because he hadn’t been possessed and attacked Camp Jupiter, Octavian hadn’t gone against the Greeks, and both camps had worked together perfectly. Octavian and Reyna both went to help the seven on the Argo that the other Hephaestus kids were able to build the Argo II without him. Nico replaced him in the prophecy. The sacrifice hadn’t been of death. Calypso had been saved by Octavian. Festus had been found by Nyssa. Everything played out so perfectly without him, he wondered why he was needed in the first place.

_You made everything harder._

_They are better without you._

_Stay with me and you can be useful._

_No longer the outlier,_

_The exiled,_

_The forgotten,_

_The seventh wheel,_

_You’ll be so much more._

_Stay._

After that, ‘stay’ was on repeat in his brain and looked up at the moon. It should’ve been a crescent still, in his world, but here it was a full moon and he blinked at it.

The moon was wrong.

This wasn’t his world.

Maybe he wasn’t needed in this world because things had happened to work out one way or another, but what about in his world? The war wouldn’t have been won without sacrifice. Hell, Jason and Piper may not be alive if they had gotten eaten back on their quest. Consequently, Khione could’ve killed them. What would Piper have done to defeat Khione if Festus hadn’t been at the head of the ship because he’d crashed?

_You aren’t needed._

That was wrong.

He wasn’t needed in this world, but he was most definitely needed in his.

“Is this…” Leo said quietly, looking away from the moon, “Is this mine? Is this what I think of myself?”

There wasn’t any fading. The world blanked. Then he was in darkness.

_“Well done, Leo Valdez.”_

There was a light that lit up in the darkness. He couldn’t see Atë, but he could hear her voice. It was slowly untangling itself from the distortion he’d heard earlier.

There were three screens lit up before him, all playing what looked like movie scenes, but they were featuring him and his friends and different lives.

 _“I said I’d return you to her, didn’t I? Pick_ a world _, Leo Valdez, and I’ll let you go.”_

With wide eyes and a sinking stomach, Leo realized that none of these realities were his.


	12. Of Endings and Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap, folks.  
> This is an aspiring trilogy, so make sure to check out the [in-progress sequel](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5317430/chapters/12276314%0A), and eventually the third installment.

Leo Valdez knew about three endings, and none of them were good.

1\. He could let Calypso go, and she’d die in a car crash with her new boyfriend around three years after he leaves her, Jason and Piper and their children will lose their lives in a house fire and he will not be able to save them and live the rest of life with that knowledge. 

2\. He could be put into the zombie apocalypse, where him and every single one of his friends will inevitably die, him for last and have to watch Calypso being torn apart before he died.

3\. He will be turned into some weird alien… gray thing? He didn’t know. It had horns or something. Calypso was one of them, too, and she would die at the hands of another weird gray alien thing with long dark hair (resembled Bianca from his world, slightly) and he couldn’t save her. She would bleed out (at least he thought it was blood, it was pink, so he didn’t know) and die in his arms.

So, really, he was fucked no matter what he decided to do.

The alien thing looked kind of cool and different, but he didn’t want to watch Calypso die. Plus, Piper looked like she was getting stabbed through the stomach with some sort of trident and Leo wasn’t really about that. Also, why were Jason and Piper normal looking and he was gray?

He wondered if the zombie apocalypse would be cool.

“Leo Valdez.”

He could heard her voice nearer him. He couldn’t see her, though. Atë’s voice seemed to resonate throughout the entire room he was in. At least he thought it was a room. It was an expanse of darkness in all directions except for the light in front of him. He immediately went to his waist, to pull out something from his toolbelt to help him, but no to avail. It was gone. 

He heard the swish of her dress and suddenly she was standing behind the floating screens, low in saturation and playing scenes from the choices of reality he’d been given. He could see her, face expressionless but her eyes alight with smug satisfaction at his utter helplessness in this situation, the white and red and black of her dress flying and winding although there was no wind in the room, her dark hair tumbling down her shoulders as she cocked her head to the side. “I would quite appreciate it if you hurried. I do not have all day.”

“Yeah, well maybe you would if you started using contractions or some shit, it might save you some time,” he retorted, eyes scanning each of the holographic realities in front of him, “none of these are mine.”

“I told you I would bring you back, did I not?” she asked rhetorically, “I never said back to your original universe.”

“Yeah, but it was heavily implied,” he shot back at her, turning around to glare, “Can’t I be given another option?” he asked, more desperately, as he looked back to the images he was being given. This was lose-lose. He didn’t know why he’d ever played her game.

“You can stay with me,” She said, suddenly gone from behind the holograms and then there was an ice cold hand on his shoulder that made him jump. It felt like icicles were shooting through his skin wherever she touched. Whatever delusions he’d had, now he could make no mistake that Atë was not human.

Her voice was a whisper, then, “I’ll treat you well.”

“I thought you saved heroes.”

“I lied,” she laughed, “I force them through the universes so I can discover their weaknesses. I can not go through them myself, you know, I have to send someone of heroic soul in for me. Once I figure out what makes them tick, I give them a decision.”

“No one has ever chosen to stay with you?” he asked nervously, wondering what happened to the others.

“Some have,” her grin was like a shark’s, “but sometimes I get bored of them and I’ll branch off into a new universe to find another hero to play with.”

“You can create new universes?” Leo asked.

“Certainly,” she said, “I never hurt my heroes, but when I want a new one, I’ll expand to a new universe. Obviously, the other universe is still living on, even though I’m not there myself. The other version of myself still lives on, though. I have different iterations of myself, but I can only travel to universes I’m in or have an artifact from, as you can only travel to those that you are or were in or have some kind of artifact from.”

 _In or have an artifact from?_ he thought, _wait..._

“Why don’t you just create a universe where I’m with you?” he questioned, “why do you need to force me to stay?”

“It’s your soul, you’re awfully unique in a way no one can explain, no one know why certain people can’t be copied. Even Zeus is expendable, but not you,” she told him, “You can never be replicated, Leo Valdez, you can only exist as you are in one solitary universe.”

“What about me in all the other universes?”

Atë sighed. “Didn’t you see? They weren’t you. You were too accepting and willing to leave Calypso in my reality, too bitter in Percy’s Reality, too happy in Nico’s, too cowardly and uncommitted in Frank’s, you didn’t see yourself in Annabeth’s world, but you would’ve been too brawny and too much of a leader, you were vacant and ready to leave everyone you loved in Jason’s, too robotic in Piper’s, too much of a traitor in Hazel’s, too romantically smooth in Calypso’s, and too bigoted in Reyna’s. No one can ever copy you. They have to modify you.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I need you. I try to keep as many people like you as I can…”

“Why?” he demanded again, and he could nearly hear her grin.

“Because once I manage to find what part of you lets you do so, I can extract it and consume it so I can freely travel through any universe I want.”

The coldness was still freezing him to place, almost, and it was like it had glazed over his mouth. He couldn’t speak, even though he wanted to when he saw the tips of her dark hair began to turn to a lighter color, the color starting in the tips and shooting up to the roots. It was a cinnamon color, almost, but it was _wrong._

“You can be with me and help me gain power, or you can suffer,” she hissed in a voice that was not her own, a voice that belonged to someone else and she had stolen, “I am playing fairly. I have given you two choices, no, not even that, _four_ choices. It will not hurt, my extraction, when the time for it comes.”

She was leaning over his shoulder and Leo could not bring himself to move. Her arm reached around Leo’s shoulders to grip his chin and force him to look at what was in front of him, the worlds he didn’t want to face. It hurt, too, her fingernails were like talons digging into his skin and her touch was a cold he never though he’d have to feel, colder than anything Khione could produce. It was so unbelievably chilling, it was the first time he’d _burned._

“If I have to keep this form to keep you happy, I will. I will give you anything you ask of me if you stay. I do not just want your soul and abilities, I want you, Leo Valdez, you are an enigma I need to solve. I will never hurt you, I promise. Please, do stay.”

“Anything and everything.”

“Yes.”

“Swear it on the Styx.”

“I swear it,” she told him.

_Dear God, capital-G intended, please let this work._

“I’ll stay.”

The room lit up immediately, the holograms disappeared and the dark retreated until it was the white room he’d been introduced to the first time he had met Atë. Her presence was gone from behind him, too. He turned around, backing up and checking his surrounding for her.

“Leo Valdez.”

Her voice came from somewhere behind him, and when he turned around, she still looked like Calypso down to a T.

As she walked to him, the plush carpet under her bare feet began to turn to sand and it seemed like the walls were being painted over as she made her way to him, until there was sand under his feet, too, and he stood on an exact replica of Ogygia. Then she was right in front of him, and if he tried, he could almost fool himself into thinking it was actually her. The illusion was ruined when she took his hand and he felt like he’d suddenly gotten frost bite.

“So, you’ll do anything to make me happy?” he asked, searching for reclarification.

“Of course,” she agreed, “I swore it on the Styx.”

“Then take me back.”

She blinked a couple of times.

“I- What?”

“It’d make me real chipper if I could be back at Camp in my universe, with my friends, and my cabinmates, and,” he narrowed his eyes at her, and although she looked like Calypso he didn’t feel like giving her much pity or leniency, “my real girlfriend.”

“You can not-,” she started, then tried again, “I will not let you-,”

“Leave?”

“You do not have anything from that universe that ties you to it!” she said, sure of herself, “It’s as good as lost! When you first came here, we were within your universe, but now we are outside of time and space. Humans are disposable, you can not be the artifact to tie you back, I replicated and changed your clothes, I confiscated your toolbelt, there is no way you can leave. I will make you happy but I can not fulfill impossible requests, and I told you as such!”

He raised an eyebrow and held up Forky.

All the color drained from her face until her Calypso disguise faded as well, and all that was standing there was Atë, wide-eyed and defeated.

“No-,” he said, “That is just a fork, I-,” she trailed off, mouth continuing to form her words but nothing came out.

“You swore on the Styx, right?” he asked, amused, “I think that means you have to do it. “

“I will not be fooled by a mortal!” she yelled, the volume of her voice going onto a more godly scale. The intensity of her voice actually winded him a little and he adjusted the hair that’d gone askew as a result of her tantrum.

“I-I will-,” her face was still deathly pale, but it would surely be bright red if she were mortal. “I will throttle you!”

“You can hurt me either,” he said as soon as she took a step forward.

It was like her throat was lodged. She just stared at him.

“Now, I think you were supposed to send me back,” he reminded her, smiling sweetly.

“I do not have to do it right now, just eventually-,”

“Oh, it’d make me happy if you did it now.”

She shut up again. Her eyes drifted away from his face and towards Forky.

“And it’d make me happy if you didn’t try to destroy Forky.”

She squeezed her eyes shut.

“You…” she breathed in deeply through her nose, “You have played me like a harp, Leo Valdez.”

“Did I now?” he asked in mock surprise, then chuckled, “Well, I suppose not everyone can be as cunning as I can.”

She growled and raised her hands, fingers twitching and looking like they were seeking a nice throat to wrap around.

“Can’t hurt me, I think that was part of the deal. Forky, care to relay the deal?” he held up Forky and talked out of the side of his mouth in a falsetto voice, “‘Yep, Leo is right and you’re an idiot.’”

“You’re mad!” she screamed.

He laughed. “Well, maybe, but you’ve still gotta send me back.”

She was fuming, and he swore he could see steam coming out of her ears if he looked hard enough. She reached a shaking hand out to grab Forky, and Leo watched with satisfaction as he murmured a few quick words and threw Forky back at him. As soon as he caught it, he began fading. A lot slower than usual this time. “This… This is not over, Leo Valdez.”

“Oh, I think it is.”

“I will not be forced to keep you safe once the River Styx is gone,” she growled, “When it is destroyed, all promises on it will be broken. Then, and only then, I will _end you_. And that’s only if I’m lucky. My mistress will tear you apart before you can count to ten.”

Leo felt his chest tighten. What if Atë wasn’t just trying to threaten him, and there was someone else she was working for? Atë herself was powerful enough, to think that someone was even more powerful than her…

But he wasn’t about to show fear, not here. He’d gotten this far and he wasn’t going to let Atë win now.

So, instead of saying some witty and mind-blowing one liner that teenage Tumblr bloggers would put in size 28 italicized Arial font over gifsets of him, he narrowed his eyes and sneered, “Tell her she can suck my ass.”

And then he disappeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [The Sequel](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5317430/chapters/12276314%0A)   
>  [here's my personal blog](http://luciferslittlekitten.tumblr.com/)   
>  [here's my writing blog](http://gods--among--us.tumblr.com/)
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you all for reading.


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